West Town community members work together to get crossing guards for CPS kids
CHICAGO - Community members on Chicago's West Side are volunteering for crossing guard duty, since the neighborhood school doesn't currently have someone to watch a busy intersection.
Armed with a stop sign, Lauren Young helped people cross the intersection of Campbell and Chicago in West Town Monday morning, but many drivers didn't make her job easy.
"Even when I'm standing in the middle of the road, they create that third lane and go right through the stop sign, while I'm standing there, while people are crossing," said Young.
Robert Magiet asked Young to join his volunteer crossing guard team which he created after parents complained it was a dangerous walk to and from Chopin Elementary School.
"Something has to change. I mean, it's really dangerous and what's more important than our kids getting to school safely?" said Magiet.
Magiet’s goal is to have a pro take over the job. He created a GoFundMe page to pay for a crossing guard. However, Chicago Public Schools has told him they’ve hired someone for the job, but there’s no word on when that guard could start.
The volunteer crossing guards said they've learned this isn’t the only intersection that needs help.
"We've gotten calls from crossing guards all over the city of Chicago, concerned parents about other intersections that are very dangerous that never even had crossing guards before, let alone now so this is a huge issue," said Magiet.
These volunteers don’t even have kids at Chopin Elementary, so why pick up the stop sign and volunteer their time?
"Having pride in where you live, cleaning up the streets, helping people get to school safely, helping feed people. I mean, just I'm just trying to be the best community member that I can," said Magiet.
"We have a lot of problems in the city right now. But you know, we can just get kids to school safe. I think that's very important. They are the future so I think it's important that we get them into school safely," said Young.
And they’re hoping others in this city both step up get these jobs filled and slow down to making that crossing safer.