CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Some Chicagoans got free gas Thursday morning after a local businessman gave away thousands of dollars in fuel at gas stations throughout the city.
What some people saved in cost they paid in time, though, as long lines caused a traffic nightmare around one Citgo gas station, according to NewsNation local affiliate WGN. Some estimates were that lines could take three or four hours to get through.
Vehicles started lining up at 5 a.m. for the free gas, which started being given out at 7 a.m. News of free gas, especially amid record-high fuel prices, brought hundreds and hundreds of people out to fill up.
Chicago businessman and former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson gave out $50 in gas to vehicles at 10 stations, promising to do so until $200,000 he pledged is exhausted.
Wilson said he put up the money for the gas because he saw people struggling and wanted to help any way he could. On Thursday, the average price of a gallon of gas was $4.55.
Two local gas station owners who spoke to WGN said they are lowering their prices during the giveaway to allow more cars to benefit.
This isn’t the first time Wilson has done a giveaway like this. In 2020, he gave away $1 million to people who lost their job because of COVID-19, WGN reported, sending them checks and direct payments of $100 to people to social distance.
Prior to that, Wilson had handed out more than $100,000 to help Cook County residents pay their property taxes, according to the Chicago Tribune, but ran into trouble when hours later, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform filed a complaint alleging he did not report an earlier giveaway of more than $200,000 in cash and checks at a South Side church.
WGN reported at the time that the Illinois State Board of Elections said Wilson didn’t break any campaign finance laws, though, because the money came from his nonprofit foundation.