Can We Help Victor?

I met Victor and Shacora last week when Victor’s Chevy Cruze rear ended my Honda CRV in the Englewood neighborhood on 63rd street. Traffic accidents never bring out the best in people but you can tell a lot about someone in the way they handle  this situation and how they conduct themselves.

The damage to both our vehicles is considerable. While I am able to drive my CRV, Victor’s car is inoperable and was towed away. I can only imagine the thoughts going through their heads as they looked at their car. Haven’t we all felt that terror at one point in our lives. Despite this, their main concern was my wellbeing. Their very first question was “are you hurt?" 

Fortunately, I am fine. For those of you who know me, you know that I’ve been a Hyde Park resident for almost 2 decades now. You also know that I am a tough Chicago raised girl who is not a push over and that I’ve seen my share of good times and hard, but I’ve been blessed with a supportive family and enough resources to see me through. 

I am asking you to donate anything you can to help this young couple recover from this accident and provide them the kind of support that we have had in our own hard times.  I don’t know if insurance will cover all the repairs to their car, or if the car is even salvageable, and they will surely lose income while it’s out of commission. 

You might wonder why I, the injured party in this case, would want to help the people who ran into me? 

These are particularly hard times. Our political divisions, social, racial, and religious differences have been used by malicious agents to divide us. The pandemic adds even more stress to everyday life pushing our resources to the limit. Plus, the news coming out of the south side of our city tells a story that is not entirely accurate. We, on the south side, are united, caring, loving, and giving. Yes, we are diverse, but our diversity is a strength that gives us a platform from which we learn that we have more in common than we have differences.  

My heart goes out to this couple during these hard times. I’ve been there too. Worried, scared, and stressed. I want to do something for them to make life just a little easier right now.  They were kind to me and very apologetic for the damage and inconvenience they caused me. More impressively, they were kind and supportive to each other. When Victor was nervous and wasn’t really sure about what to do, Shacora assured him that “everything is going to be OK babe.” But there were tears falling from her eyes as she said it. It broke my heart. Were it not for social distancing, I would have hugged them both and told them the same thing.  

Later in the evening, Victor sent me a text asking if I was feeling ok and thanking me for not freaking out. He and Shacora even offered to take me out to dinner to show their gratitude. This is the kind of world we need to maintain. These are the stories that people should be reading about Chicago’s south side.  

Kindness should be rewarded. Let’s keep creating more of the world we want to live in and less of what others want to force upon us.  

Please find it in your hearts to give anything you can to help Victor and Shacora get back in the driver’s seat and back to their lives. If you have thoughts as to how we can provide other kinds of support for this young couple, please reach out to me as I’ve never done this before and any advice is deeply appreciated. No donation is too small. My grandfather use to say that a sack becomes full by adding one bean at a time.  It sounds better in Greek :)

I implore you to share this on your social media. My social media network is very small, but I will send an email blast to all my friends, co-workers, and acquaintances.   

Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you do donate, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  

Dina