“If you don’t have family you don’t have anything”

Violet Young walks briskly down North Richards Street dressed almost entirely in purple, a plastic bag in each hand. Exuberant and cheerful, even the below-freezing temperatures can’t dampen her spirits.

“You should see what it looks like in summer,” she says, gesturing to a nearby corner park with fruit trees and a small shelter. “It’s beautiful.”

Continue reading ““If you don’t have family you don’t have anything””

“I’m looking forward to just growing old”

Jimmy Scott stands outside the Riverwest Food Pantry at St. Casimir Parish on Clarke Street as bikers, participants in the Riverwest 24, pass by.

Scott, who grew up on the west and south sides of Chicago, was the victim of a shooting while living in the Windy City. “You grow up in the drug area, you know, there’s always shootings and stuff going on…I [was] just [in] the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

Continue reading ““I’m looking forward to just growing old””