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An anonymous good Samaritan picked up the hotel tab for dozens of homeless people during the big freeze in the Midwest, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The city was gripped by temperatures as low as -25 degrees Fahrenheit early Wednesday, setting the record for the second coldest day ever in Chicago’s recorded history.
As the cold gripped the city, Chicago officials took away a homeless camp’s propane tanks after one of them reportedly exploded. The safety measure left the homeless community without any source of heat.
City officials began preparations to move the homeless to the Salvation Army’s warming center, but about an hour later, the city called the warming center and said someone had offered to put the homeless in a hotel instead. And not just for one night.
“All the folks there," said Salvation Army spokeswoman Jacqueline Rachev. "Some wonderful citizen is going to put all of them up at a hotel for the rest of the week."
Everyone in the camp except for one person chose to go to the hotel, reports the Tribune.
Rachev said she did not know the identity of the citizen who offered to pay for the hotel rooms.
