COVID-19 Making Life Even More Difficult For Day Laborers; 'We Can't Get A Job, And We Need Some Food'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- December is the season of giving, and we know a lot of people are in need right now. This next story takes us to the North Side of Chicago, where an elderly woman is looking for help battling the most basic need: hunger.

Not many Chicagoans stand around in December. Windchills are below freezing these days. People passing by a group standing at Belmont and Milwaukee could mistake it for a protest, but their signs are a call for help.

"We can't get a job, and we need some food!" said a day laborer named Ramon.

Government assistance isn't an option for many of them, so the mostly undocumented day laborers rely instead on a senior citizen: 79-year-old Gretchen Moore.

"This is a good lady," Ramon said.

Moore has nurtured more than 100 men for 12 years; collecting and passing out basic necessities like food and clothing at six different locations, including at Kimball and Addison, all through her non-profit Northside Latin Progress.

"This year has been extremely hard for them. Usually they make their money in the spring and the summer, but there has been no work because of the virus," Moore said.

"I lost my job, and I don't have no money to get some shoes," Ramon said.

"I'm very worried about winter coming along now. They're really broke," Moore said.

Which is why she's making an appeal: looking for money to buy them boots for any construction jobs that do pop up; calling all cooks for sandwich drop-offs, because many soup kitchens are closed due to COVID-19.

"They like tuna fish, and that will be the only food they probably have that day," she said.

Bus passes will one of the day laborers heal his ailing feet, sore from searching for a gig.

"We need some help," Ramon said.

Help beyond their guardian angel's abilities.

Moore says her non-profit receives grant money, but runs through it quickly. She does not take a salary.

She's asking for money ($463 makes 108 lunches) or help by assembling non-perishable bags full of soap, wash cloths, razors, tweezers, can openers, pens and pads, or boxes of food – including raisins, tuna salad, juice, fruit and grain cereal bars, crackers, applesauce, and candy bars.

You can contact Moore at St. Bartholomew Church, 4949 W. Patterson Av., between 10 a.m. and 4 a.m. on weekdays. You can reach her at 312-343-0804.

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