Generosity in the Polar Vortex

I can’t believe it’s already been a few weeks since Chicago experienced a polar vortex. The dangerously low temps kept a lot of people at home – even retail shops were closed or shut early. It was really necessary, too. If you aren’t from the Midwest but followed along with our weather, you probably heard that the wind chill dipped to 51 degrees below zero on the first out of two extremely cold days. It’s a cold that’s hard to explain; but this video does a pretty good job of helping your imagination out. I worked from home the first day of the cold, but the second day I was going a little stir crazy and was curious about the outside temperature. My home and work are close enough to public transit that it wasn’t dangerous for me to venture outside for a few minutes each way to experience it.

Once outside I could bear the freezing temps, but after walking around the Chicago River for 10 minutes to take photos, I realized I shouldn’t stay outside much longer. I, of course, was fortunate to have warm places to retreat to and stay safe from the polar vortex. As you might have seen on the news, there were a lot of people not so lucky. Thankfully, a good Samaritan helped some of them and the city did what it could for others. But, before I left for work the second day of the cold, I realized I might come across someone in need. Not really knowing how I could help, I was grateful to have stumbled upon a Twitter thread with simple solutions.

From the Twitter thread, I was amazed at how informed people were of ways to help others during freezing temps get to warming stations and also be prepared if they came across someone in need. Some of the easiest ways to help included:

• Purchase packs of hand warmers and gloves and distribute them to people who need them
• Stash an “emergency warmth kid” in the trunk of your car, this could include blankets, hats, gloves and socks
• Buy someone hiding out in a restaurant/coffee shop something to drink so they become a customer, i.e. less likely to be hassled (and less likely to feel unwanted)
• Ask the person begging outside of a store what they need, and buy it
• Hand out public transit cards with directions to the closest warming station

Seeing the Twitter thread jogged my memory that we had hand warmers leftover from when we attended a Bears game. I packed a few for my trek into the office and surprisingly, but thankfully, I didn’t see many people in need that second day of the cold. Still, by the end of the day I’d given a few packs away.

Although we’re past this year’s polar vortex (hopefully it’ll be spring soon enough!), Chicago and the Midwest aren’t done with winter weather. Trying to imagine how people are feeling on the streets when the temps are in the teens helps me remember to be a little more generous in ways that I can, like buying someone a sandwich when I go to McDonald’s for my Diet Coke, or swiping someone in with my Ventra pass who needs to be on the warm L train. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that doing good makes me feel good, too. But I hope it feels even better for the person on the receiving end.