Lending a helping hand to Chicago’s homeless

Peter Caruso, an Executive Vice President on JLL’s U.S. Retail Brokerage team, has been volunteering for nearly five years with The Chicago Help Initiative, a not-for-profit organization that provides meals and social services to the homeless, underprivileged and jobless citizens. Earlier this March, the setup was a little different.

“Normally, there’d be many volunteers lined up, serving hot food onto hungry people’s plates,” said Peter. “This time, in accordance with government regulations, there were less than 10 of us preparing bagged dinners to-go.”

The Chicago Help Initiative normally hands out a gift with meals, and the organization knew hand sanitizer would be the most helpful. After making many calls to source the “liquid gold” with no luck, they settled on handing out bars of soap. But Peter didn’t give up.

Peter learned Chicago-based KOVAL Distillery had suspended their spirits operation to produce hand sanitizer for hospitals and organizations in need. He moved quickly to get the non-profit on KOVAL’s distribution list, resulting in a donation of five gallons of hand sanitizer.

“It’s days like this that really put life in perspective,” said Peter. “I’m very fortunate for what I have and even more fortunate to be able to volunteer my time.”