ABC7 celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with 'Our Chicago: Nuestro Segundo Hogar'
CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC7 Chicago celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with vignettes, a series of news stories and a half-hour special "Our Chicago: Nuestro Segundo Hogar."
Hosted by ABC7's Jaisol Martinez and Rob Elgas, with Mark Rivera and Michelle Gallardo, "Our Chicago: Nuestro Segundo Hogar" takes a look at Chicago individuals inspiring others in their communities.
We hosted our special from the beautiful Vault Gallerie in the Pilsen neighborhood.
The half-hour program aired Sunday, Sept. 24 at 11 p.m., with an encore presentation next Sunday on Oct. 1 at 4:30 p.m.
Trumpet Papi
Daniel Flores, or Trumpet Papi on TikTok, was born in Peru and moved to San Antonio with his family when he was 5 years old.
Throughout his childhood, he threw himself into all things musical.
As an adult, that passion for music and playing the trumpet remained.
He now bikes around Chicago, playing his trumpet while showcasing the beauty of the city and sharing the music he loves.
He catapulted to local stardom when he performed a trumpet cover of a J Balvin and Bad Bunny song, going viral on TikTok with millions of views.
Community Gardener Edgar Florentino
Edgar Florentino is a self-taught community gardener brightening up the neighborhood he grew up in by landscaping "hot corners" - streets where there is a lot of gun violence.
Most of Florentino's work can be found along 48th and 49th streets.
Beautifying the residential streets and intersections is Florentino's way of helping people feel safer in the community.
Florentino also created a bilingual gardening group on Facebook called "Jardineros Y Jardineras De Chicago" to provide a space for local Spanish-speaking gardeners to get inspiration and seek advice from one another.
Chicagoans helping asylum seekers
For more than a year now, Chicago has received thousands of asylum seekers.
Since then, dozens of organizations and individuals have stepped forward to help provide for these incoming families.
Mark Rivera and Michelle Gallardo traveled around the city meeting with many of these groups to see what they're doing to help.
Artist Delilah Martinez has opened up her space, the Vault Gallerie, as a donation center for asylum seekers.
Her care packages of clothing, shoes, toiletries and blankets are distributed to migrants around Chicago neighborhoods and at police stations.
Otto Rodriguez is reaching out to the migrant community through sports.
As a coach for Street Soccer USA, Martinez has been working with migrant adults from the Wadsworth Shelter in Woodlawn to gather together for a game of soccer or baseball in an effort to promote a sense of community.
Over on the Southwest Side, the women of Southwest Collective are filling a garage with basic necessities and arranging free and safe pick-up events for those in need of items such as diapers and baby formula.
You can learn more about these individuals and what their organizations are doing by visiting their websites.
Bien Me Sabe
Bien Me Sabe, with its mouth-watering and authentic food, brings the flavor of Venezuela to Chicagoans.
Serving up traditional arepas, empanadas and plantains among other delicious choices, the restaurant is visited by many natives as evidenced by the Venezuelan professional baseball players who eat there and have signed their names to a special wall.
Owner Pedro Ron talks about his journey creating two popular Bien Me Sabe restaurants.
Antojitos.Shop
Gerardo Ruiz, owner of Antojitos.shop located in Little Village, is a Mexican snack shop wonderland.
Gerardo boasts 638,000 followers on TikTok where he creates videos about making chamoy candy; spicy-sweet gummies covered in sour, pickled apricot paste and topped with chili powder, a viral Mexican junk-food favorite.
He found that TikTok videos are a fun way to share a piece of his Mexican culture.
Cuban photographer Alex Garcia
Chicago-based Cuban photojournalist Alex Garcia has traveled across the globe, documenting thousands of stories for more than 30 years.
But the highlight of his Pulitzer Prize-winning photography career has been his numerous assignments in his native Cuba.
Garcia, a former photographer for the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune, first traveled to Cuba in 1995. Since then, he has returned to the Caribbean country many times, both as a photojournalist and a visitor.
The thousands of images that he took during that time provide a complete view of Cuba - from candid glimpses of the country's longtime authoritarian leader, Fidel Castro, to a unique look at community life in Havana and other Cuban cities.
He recently presented some of his best work in Cuba at a photo exhibit at the Chicago Center for Photojournalism in the Uptown neighborhood.
