Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Therapist Saydi Shumway had her plate full with kids, work, church responsibilities and everything else in between. "How can we take something else on?" the Utah woman recalled thinking. But shortly after the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022, she felt she couldn't ignore the refugees fleeing the war zone.
Shumway, 48, said she realized two things: Her capacity to juggle her obligations would grow, and she knew she didn't have to do it alone.
She became acquainted with WelcomeNST, a nationwide nonprofit that offers communities resources to engage with refugees.
"What made it doable is knowing there is a model," Shumway said. More than a dozen other families in Holladay and Salt Lake City joined Shumway to create a sprawling support system for their new guests. "The goal is to help these families become self-reliant."
In January 2023, they welcomed a Ukrainian mother and daughter duo — Hanna, pronounced "Anna," and her 8-year-old daughter Margaryta, or Margot. Hanna's colleague, Marianna, accompanied them.
Since military-aged Ukrainian men are required to serve in the army, it's common for women like Hanna and Marianna to travel together, Shumway said. This "family unit" arrived with their pet cat, Alice.
Hanna described her story in a post for a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $35,000.
"At 4:45 a.m., I heard explosions and saw pillars of fire and smoke outside our windows. There was a smell of burning I will never forget. I woke my daughter and said, 'We are being bombed!'" Hanna wrote. "Thus our life was divided between 'before' and 'after.' I grabbed my child and our bag of documents and we hid in a neighbor's basement for 10 days."
When the Russian military began shelling civilian homes, they escaped to the railway station and fled. They found shelter in Lviv, near the border between Poland and Ukraine, and lived there without heat or power until finding their refuge in Salt Lake City. More than a year later, they are thriving in their new home.
White House covers costs to take in refugee families
The three Ukrainian women are among the more than 230,000 individuals who fled to the U.S. as of April 2024 under the Uniting for Ukraine program.
On June 20, World Refugee Day, the White House said private funding will be available to communities who take in refugees.
Families who sponsor refugees can receive more than $2,400 for each refugee a sponsor group takes in. That's nearly $10,000 for a family of four. The grant is available to groups who apply before July 31.
"The point of the funding is to remove barriers (and) to make it easier for people," said Elizabeth Davis-Edwards, the founder of WelcomeNST, which helps communities form neighborhood support teams to welcome refugees. "You have this unfathomable global need, and you have more pathways than ever before open for families to come to the U.S."
But whether these pathways will remain open in the future is unknown, "so we are feeling this massive urgency," she said.
WelcomeNST has helped refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua. In most states, refugee families receive roughly three to six months of funding. They are assigned an already busy caseworker, get signed up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for groceries, and their children are enrolled in public schools, said Davis-Edwards.
"I watch so many families, and I cannot, for the life of me, understand how anyone could do this without support," she said.
By comparison, Utah's Department of Workforce Services supports refugees for up to two years. This office also encourages community organizations to fill in gaps left by the state government. "You've got an actual state system that puts its money where its mouth is," Davis-Edwards said. There are nearly 70,000 refugees living in Utah.
The state is particularly good at stepping up to help refugees, and "It's a little-known secret," said Davis-Edwards. Tight-knit communities and strong religious support are among the reason why. More than 80% of the communities engaged with WelcomeNST are people of faith. Many of them find the nonprofit through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' JustServe initiative, which connects volunteers with service opportunities.
The state's history traces back to refugee settlements of pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who fled religious persecution.
"(Utahns) understand the pain caused by forced migration and appreciate the contributions of refugees in our communities," Their Story is Our Story, a Salt Lake City refugee nonprofit, says on their website.
What is it like helping refugees as a community?
Before Hanna, Marianna and Margot arrived in Salt Lake City last year, Shumway and her team had already raised enough money to pay half their rent for more than a year. People were eager to help in any way they could, Shumway said.
WelcomeNST helps communities form groups to help incoming refugees with transportation, health care, education, cultural integration and employment.
"Our teams were pretty active in the first six to eight months," said Shumway. "Lots of transportation needs, lots of connecting them to government resources, lots of making sure they felt settled in their house." She said she was especially proud of her team's sign-up sheet for people to invite Hanna, Marianna and young Margot to Sunday dinner, or to take them on an outing, like a trip to the mountains.
The Ukrainian women were still learning English when they visited Shumway's household for dinner, she recalled. They communicated through Google Translate at the time, but since then, they have learned to speak English with the help of some classes.
In another instance, the Shumway family took Hanna to the Utah Refugee Center downtown, where Hanna felt inspired to dream of a different life in the U.S. She was a pharmacist in Ukraine, as was Marianna. But her eyes were now set on being of service to other refugees. Shumway said Hanna got a job as an assistant at Catholic Community Services, exactly what she hoped to do. Her first day is next week, Hanna told the Deseret News in a text message.
"Living in Utah for over a year has been an incredible journey for my daughter and me," she said. Hanna said she appreciated her sponsors for supporting her in learning a new language and helping her start a career while her daughter acclimated to a new world.
"We feel happy and welcomed here and see endless opportunities for a bright future. We couldn't have done this without our sponsors' help, and we are forever grateful," she said.
Marianna struggled to find consistent employment and faced difficulty adjusting to working as a lunch lady at the local high school, especially since she comes from an educated background, said Shumway. But she sponsored her son Oleg, who is in his early 30s and reunited with Marianna on Wednesday. Shumway said she expects Oleg to be of great help to his mother.
When she arrived, Margot didn't know a single word of English. "She was very scared. I think she was just so confused about why she was leaving her home," said Shumway. Margot now speaks English well and has "a vibrant personality," as well as a lot of friends, Shumway said.
"She's since really blossomed," said Shumway. "The mom and daughter, they really want to stay forever."
