Roseland hospital opens doors to the community in honor of MLK: 'His legacy was bringing people together'
Dozens of community members filtered through Roseland Community Hospital's multi-purpose room on Monday, perusing tables and racks brimming with free shoes, coats and home goods.
A video of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. played quietly as they selected items and enjoyed a complimentary breakfast before stepping back into Chicago's frigid cold.
The community closet event, organized by the hospital's charitable arm, was aimed at celebrating the annual federal holiday honoring the civil rights icon.
“His legacy was bringing people together, unity and providing needs and resources,” said Nikia McGee, executive director of the Roseland Community Hospital Foundation. “Bringing this closet together does that. It brings people out.”
The hospital has held similar events in the past, but this was the first one that landed on MLK Day.
The foundation collected the items from employees and partnered with the nonprofit Cradles to Crayons for donations.
Charles Glasper, 54, and Rufus Sparks Jr., 60, are both from the neighborhood but met for the first time Monday morning. Ten minutes before arriving, Glasper was driving down the street when he spotted Sparks pulling a shopping cart filled with food and clothes.
"I said, ‘Hey, Brother, do you know what they're having at the hospital?’” Glasper said.
A self-described “child of Roseland,” Glasper said the area was special to him. “I would like to advocate for more of the community to get involved and spread the word about the things [that are] happening,” he added.
McGee noted that hospital employees had also stopped by the event. "Just because they work here doesn't mean that they don't have needs," she said. "A lot of them live in the community.”
Ikeya Johnson, a medical assistant in the hospital’s detox unit, was among those who dropped in. A lot of her patients are homeless, so the event was an opportunity to bring them clothes and provide warmth in the cold weather.
“I got a jacket, a couple pairs of pants, a jogging suit," Johnson, 30, said. "So I can make a little going-away bag for a couple of our patients upstairs."
She said she thinks the event would have made King “proud.”
“This is something that he, I would say, wanted. It brings a community together of all races, shapes and colors,” she said.