As temperatures plummeted to deadly negatives in Chicago this week, a Good Samaritan spotted the hotel bill of 70 homeless people to ensure they were not left to freeze, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The group of 70 was evicted from a homeless encampment in downtown Chicago Wednesday after a propane tank exploded. No one was injured in the incident, which led to police confiscating around 100 other tanks, leaving the camp residents without a source of heat.
The Salvation Army was making arrangements to house the 70 people in its warming center when the staff got a call saying someone was already paying for a hotel.
“Some wonderful citizen is going to put all of them up at a hotel for the rest of the week,” said Jacqueline Rachev, a spokeswoman for the Salvation Army, who was checking in the makeshift camp of tents and blankets.
The identity of the Good Samaritan is currently not known.
As others seek to help Chicago’s 80,000 homeless people during the brutal winter freeze, the fire department has cautioned residents not to donate propane tanks, which are a potential fire hazard.
The midwest has been been gripped by a record-shattering cold front, with temperatures dropping to -23° in Chicago on Wednesday morning. Temperatures that low quickly become life-threatening.
At least eight people have died this week due to the cold temperatures.
