There seems to always be trash on the side of the road. No matter if you are in the nicest area of town or the roughest, there will ALWAYS be trash. For some, that trash can be turned into an opportunity (especially if it’s old furniture)! When one woman started looking through roadside trash, however, it turned into a whole lot more than she ever expected.
One Chicago woman saw some dressers in an alley and decided to take a look.
The woman had seen an opportunity to make something out of someone else’s trash. She was driving by an alley in the 2300 block of North Park Avenue when she got out and started rummaging. When she pulled out one of the drawers, there was a baby boy inside.
When the woman opened a drawer, she found a crying baby boy stuffed inside.
“I put my finger on the little foot too, just to see he was moving,” – NBC
It was one of the luckiest finds ever. The little boy was found not a second too soon, either. It was garbage day and the likelihood of a waste worker opening up the drawers is almost none. If the woman wouldn’t have been looking through the junk, the baby would have been tossed into one of the compressor trucks.
Once the baby was surrendered to the police, a local mission to the community was instituted.
“Every time I think about the little details, it just makes me mad,” she added. “So I’m just gonna focus on the miracle that I was there, and that everybody showed up on time because I was shaking. I was shaking so bad.”
Officers started going door to door, talking to any nearby neighbors that they could. Placing a child in the trash like that was clearly a heartless act and police wanted everyone to know that there are “Safehavens’ all around the city.
Their door-to-door campaign included cards, flyers, and personal conversations.
In an interview with NBC, one woman explained how the event impacted her. Alejandra said that the messaging was clear – if you couldn’t keep a baby, there are plenty of places to either help or take ownership of that baby. The trash is never a valid option. Officers included places on their cards that were safe havens for people if they were desperate. Many hospitals and fire departments proudly display a sign above their building declaring their status as a safe place.
Since the event, the baby had been reported to be in good condition.
It’s a true miracle that everything happened as it did. As one woman explained:
“You could have even rang my doorbell and I would have taken the baby, you know? Anything but leaving it in that drawer.”
The neighborhood had a clear reminder that there are options for people who aren’t able to take care of their babies. Thankfully, this story is one of the “miracle” types, not the “tragedy” types.
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