MESA's free store La Tiendita provides the South Side's growing immigrant community with clothing, diapers, baby food, hygiene products, furniture and other essentials. With $6,000, we'll be able to pay our rent for the year and focus on stocking and improving our free store.

In August 2022, the first bus of immigrants arrived to Chicago. That year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending groups of immigrants and asylum seekers to sanctuary cities across the U.S. Since then, over 51,000 immigrants have settled in Chicago.

Abbott and other red state governors meant to erode our city’s commitment to welcoming immigrants by overwhelming us with thousands of new arrivals. But it didn’t work. Instead, our community mobilized to provide our new neighbors with shelter, food, warm clothes, and legal assistance.

La Tiendita began with volunteers going from house to house to collect donations and delivering them to makeshift shelters in Chicago police stations. We eventually opened a physical location in Washington Park, and in April 2024, we moved to our new home inside the Coppin Community Center, a social service nonprofit that has long served South Side residents. In doing so, we committed ourselves to serving all Chicagoans, not just new arrivals.

In order to keep our free store open, we need your support. Your contribution will allow us to keep providing the South Side's immigrant community with clothing, diapers, baby food, hygiene products, furniture and other essentials.

MESA (Manos Entrelazadas South Side Alliance) is an initiative by Neighbors Helping New Neighbors South Side.

Help us keep our free store La Tiendita open