CHICAGO — DJ Moore and the Chicago Bears teamed up with the Salvation Army to help give migrants a Venezuelan-themed Thanksgiving meal in Little Village.

“I talked to one of the group of families here, they’ve been through a lot, it was heartwarming,” Moore said. “I just wanted to get back over there and start talking to him some more even though it’s a language barrier right there.”

About 150 migrants gathered at a Southwest Side shelter Tuesday, where Venezuelan restaurant Rica Arepa helped cater a meal that is like a taste from home for a group of people who have risked their lives fleeing economic and political turmoil in South America.

One those migrants is named Jose Ramon Garcia, from Venezuela. Garcia told WGN’s Sean Lewis that he wants to perfect his English and use his background in engineering to start over in the United States.

According to the Salvation Army, over the next two days, more than 800 people seeking asylum from the South American country, who traveled to Chicago for a better life, will be fed their first Thanksgiving in the United States.

“It’s amazing. They have black beans and rice, beef, plantains, fried plantains,” said Major Nivia Paredes with the Salvation Army. “I hope today that this is a little heaven for them [with] love and peace and we sing music.”

The meal is the first of four planned throughout Chicago for Thanksgiving, with three more scheduled for tomorrow at Salvation Army’s Temple Corps, Freedom Center, and Irving Park Corps locations.

The Temple Corps Thanksgiving meal will take place from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., while the Thanksgiving meals at the Freedom Center and Irving Park Corps will take place at 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.