CHICAGO — As Chicago experienced its snowiest stretch in more than 40 years, volunteers with nonprofit My Block, My Hood, My City received more than 200 requests from folks who needed help clearing snow.
More than 100 volunteers came together to shovel at homes across the city Tuesday, community organizer Ernesto Gonzalez said. The shoveling brigade will be back out Wednesday to help more seniors and other people in need.
To request shoveling help, sign up here. To volunteer, sign up here.
The nonprofit is also organizing a shoveling drive at 10 a.m.-noon Wednesday at 6608 S. Halsted St. in Englewood to clear R.A.G.E.’s Englewood Free Market. My Block, My Hood, My City will provide gear — volunteers can show up without a shovel.
To volunteer to help clear the Englewood market, sign up here.
Gonzalez estimated that volunteers helped out in about a dozen different neighborhoods on Tuesday alone.
For seniors who aren’t computer savvy or lack internet access, Gonzalez is urging neighbors to register their homes for them.
“We ask people to sign up a senior that they know,” Gonzalez said.
Chicago has had 40.1 inches of snow in three weeks, according to the National Weather Service. From Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning, 17.7 inches fell at Midway Airport. Albany Park and the South Loop saw 17 inches, officials said.
My Block, My Hood, My City has organized snow-shoveling drives for years, often meeting up with volunteers at a busy intersection in Englewood before dispatching volunteers nearby, Gonzalez said.
This year, because of the pandemic, they shifted to an online model where volunteers from all over the city could be dispatched to shovel homes near where they lived, Gonzalez said. Volunteers are asked to shovel one-five homes.
“If it snows, we’ll be there,” Gonzalez said.
Neighborhood groups and aldermanic offices are also pitching in to shovel for residents in need. See a full list of the help available here.
RELATED: Snowed In? Here’s How To Get Shoveling Help In Chicago
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