Tina Rubio’s family in Logan Square has been without air conditioning since their previous one gave out last summer, causing a miserable time during Chicago’s heat wave this week.
Thanks to a local restaurant owner, her family received two new air conditioners Wednesday. They’ll be used for her 80-year-old father, who lives in a third-floor unit, and her 12-year-old niece and 15-year-old nephew, who live with Rubio’s brother and his wife on the second floor.
“It’s really hot. It’s so hot right now, so we thought this would be a great time to get that for them, since they’re home for the summer,” Rubio said.
“To be home and just have the windows open and the fan in the window, it’s just not enough.”
Robert Magiet, who owns The StopAlong restaurants in Logan Square and Bucktown, bought 20 air conditioners Tuesday morning after he saw that a community group had run out of AC units to give away. He bought four more Wednesday and gave them to residents in Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Belmont Cragin and surrounding areas.
Wednesday’s high temperature was 93 degrees, the fourth straight day with temperatures above 90 degrees.
“I just can’t imagine not having air conditioning,” said Magiet, a Humboldt Park resident. “At our house with our four kids, if we didn’t have air conditioning and it was 80, 85, 90 degrees in our house, [I know] just how unhappy and miserable our children would be.”
Rubio said Magiet’s generous act “could not have come at a better time for us.”
“Times are tough right now, money is scarce, so this gift for them is just amazing,” Rubio said. The kids were so excited, she said, they wanted to install the air conditioners themselves.
“Of course, we won’t let them do that, but they were just too excited and too happy for it,” she said, adding that two other nephews installed the units.
The deliveries should be seen as “a friendly reminder for everyone to look out for their neighbors and reach out and make sure that especially anyone with children or any elderly are OK and comfortable,” said Magiet, 47. “And if not, try to help them out. I mean, this heat is ridiculous.”
Before receiving the air conditioners, Rubio said her niece and nephew would run through the hose in their backyard or go swimming at a pool, and then drink “lots of water, lots of ice.” They also take the kids to indoor activities where they can exercise but stay cool.
“It’s hard to cope with this heat,” Rubio said. “If you don’t have AC, then it’s really hard.”
The city cited the Juneteenth holiday as the reason for Wednesday’s closing of five of the six cooling centers it opened this week, for those without air conditioning or who are susceptible to heat-induced illness. The Garfield Community Service Center, 10 S. Kedzie Ave., stayed open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Public libraries, where city officials have recommended seeking shelter, also were closed Wednesday because of the holiday.
Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications identified 106 park district locations with field houses, splash pads and pools as places to cool off.
Wednesday’s temperature was 93, short of Chicago’s June 19 record high of 102 degrees set in 1953, but some heat indices in the region could still surpass 100 degrees, National Weather Service meteorologist David King said.
A slight dip in temperatures could be possible Thursday, with northerly winds hitting the area, though Chicago’s high was still expected to be in the low 90s. Some areas, primarily along Lake Michigan, could have temperatures in the 80s, but “it’s still going to be fairly warm,” King said.
Chicago’s high temperatures were forecast for 91 degrees Friday and 97 degrees Saturday, with slight chances of rain both days. A high of 89 degrees was expected Sunday.
King said people should “remind themselves to take breaks and find shelter, and stay in the air conditioning, if they can.”