HUMBOLDT PARK — Before dawn, Angelica and Daniel set up colorful signs and a small table in Humboldt Park, ready to serve hot coffee and Venezuelan empanadas.
The couple, asylum seekers from Venezuela, have become a staple at the neighborhood’s busy intersection of North and California avenues. They’re reaping the benefits of the area’s foot traffic, catering to people waiting in the long line at the state’s human services and family community resource building, many of whom are other asylum seekers from Latin America.
“We’ve had a lot of opportunities to try new things like this,” Angelica said in Spanish. Block Club isn’t publishing their last name for safety reasons. “Even though we can’t work legally in businesses yet, we have made new friends and received a lot of support for migrants from the local community and organizations.”
The couple is among a few vendors who sell homemade food, coffee and soft drinks five days a week in the area as they wait for official work permits. Like thousands who have entered the country seeking asylum in the past two years, they can’t legally work — so many have had to get creative to make ends meet while adjusting to a new city and life.
The two started selling at the intersection this summer, and their food has become so popular that they sell out most mornings. Sometimes, they’re only there for an hour before all their food is gone; other mornings, it takes a few hours, Angelica said.
They make 40-50 empanadas a day inside their home kitchen, and they get most of their business on Mondays and Tuesdays.
“The reality is a lot of people come to sell here, but the days and hours are staggered. … We are the most stable here,” Daniel said. “Many people from the line come here, but recently, more neighbors come by and even drive to get the food — Puerto Ricans, other Latinos, everyone.”
Angelica and Daniel also do home deliveries for people who want bulk empanada orders or who are not able to buy from them in person, he said.
Their empanadas come in four varieties: chicken and rice; mechada with shredded pork, rice, cheese, tomatoes and plantains; pabellón with skirt steak, beans and plantains; and ham and cheese.
The mechada empanada is the most popular, and it is often eaten for breakfast, Angelica said.
The two have been strategic with their business: They chose their location specifically to cater to Latinos in Humboldt Park and the migrants lining up there who’d be familiar with their offerings.
They make $400-$600 a week, which has helped them move into a home in Back of the Yards, pay their bills and provide for their family, Daniel said. The couple’s two daughters, 14 and 5, are in a bilingual school on the Southwest Side, and being able to provide stability and some sense of normalcy for them is important, he said.
The couple hope to get their official work permits from the government next month after arriving in Chicago nearly a year ago and completing the asylum process. They hope it will open doors to get a better job before colder weather rolls in so they can stop selling empanadas outside.
“We like Chicago, and because we have two daughters, we want them to have stability and make friends at school,” Daniel said. “We would like to go on vacation around the United States, like places we have seen on TV, but for now we have to work and save up money.”
They’re holding onto a future where they can grow roots in Chicago, build more community and visit their family in Venezuela when it’s safe — provided they can come back to Chicago.
After moving between Venezuela, Chile and Columbia, Chicago is now their home, they said.
“It would be big to have a future here that gives us employment opportunities, stability, documentation, so we can go see family and come back here without issues,” Daniel said.
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Publish date : 2024-11-08 01:45:00
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