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Help Hurricane Harvey Victims By Dropping Supplies In Portage Park

By Alex Nitkin | August 31, 2017 8:05am
 Red Cross workers drop off supplies in Texas.
Red Cross workers drop off supplies in Texas.
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American Red Cross Houston Texas

CHICAGO — New Life Community Church, 5700 W. Berteau Ave., is offering Northwest Siders a more personal way to help victims of hurricane Harvey than just donating cash online.

The church on Wednesday put out an "all-points bulletin" asking for supplies including toiletries, child care products, first aid supplies, blankets, towels and phone chargers, according to Traci Fitzmaurice, the church's office manager.

The full list of requested items is listed on the church's website.

Donors are asked to drop off supplies during the following time windows:

• Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday

• Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. or between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Tuesday

• Between 6 a.m. and noon on Wednesday

Next Thursday, church members will hop inside rented trucks and haul the inventory down to a church in southeast Texas, Fitzmaurice said.

Congregants had called former members of the church now living in Conroe, Texas to ask how they were coping with the storm, Fitzmaurice said. When she heard they "had high waters but weren't in danger," they collectively decided to set up a caravan of supplies from Chicago to help people who had been displaced, she said.

"It seems like everyone there who's not underwater is helping the people who are," Fitzmaurice said.

The nearby Branch Community Church, 6125 W. Foster Ave., and Bethel Community Church, 7601 W. Foster Ave., have also joined in the effort, Fitzmaurice said.