Nonprofit AZA Essentials donates 100 pairs of boots to homeless people in the Elgin area

Albert Azarias, founder and chairman of the Bartlett-based nonprofit AZA Essentials, worked with fellow soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri to receive more than 100 pairs of donated boots.

After receiving donated boots by soldiers, Azarias took the boots to his Army Reserve Unit, the 317th Engineer Construction Company in Homewood, Illinois, to clean the boots.

The boots were then distributed to the homeless, particularly in Elgin, and around the Chicago area to those who requested boots. Azarias was born and raised around Elgin so this is why he picked that location.

Many of the homeless received their boots on Nov. 17 in the Vineyard Church in Elgin, where AZA Essentials gives most of the cold weather gear to the homeless.

Many people have been asking for these boots because of frostbite living in the tent cities in the woods during the winter.

These boots are water resistant and perfect for cold weather as they are the same boots that soldiers use.

The idea started last winter when a homeless veteran approached AZA Essentials to ask for boots. Good boots cost over $200 and the nonprofit had limited funds so a boot drive seemed bleak.

But Azarias was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood this year for a training school and got the idea there. They are happy to say that this year, the boots were distributed to a majority of homeless people, with many of them being veterans.

AZA Essentials has worked with the Vineyard Church for 2 years and many other nonprofits in the Elgin area. They have given winter fleece gloves, winter fleece caps, hand and toe warmers, tents, blankets, coats, and essential gear to help people survive in the negative temperatures.

AZA Essentials has done many events in the past and are aiming to help more people in the Chicago area every year. All projects have been funded by the Azarias family.

This boot project was a six-month process. It started with getting approval from Fort Leonard Wood, asking soldiers for donations for four months, taking the boots from Missouri to Illinois to a storage facility, cleaning each pair, moving back to the storage facility, then distribution.

It took multiple volunteers and generous donors to get to this point. The timing was perfect as the boots were distributed before the winter, in the season of giving.