Diocese efforts to resettle Ukrainians: Helping refugees helps businesses

Two years after Russia invaded their country, five Ukrainian refugee families are living in Westmoreland County through a Catholic Diocese of Greensburg mission, an initiative to help them get a fresh start while easing the region’s worker shortage.

“It is my prayer that when we, the ecumenical, business and community leaders come together to move these efforts forward, we will serve as the new catalyst for economic growth in Westmoreland County,” Bishop Larry Kulick, head of the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, told about 220 community, government and business leaders at the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland’s annual lunch in North Huntingdon on Tuesday.

The diocese’s Catholic Charities, which has spearheaded the Ukrainian relocation efforts in conjunction with its partners, began working on the initiative two years ago, Kulick said. The Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, where many Ukrainians have relocated, has helped to find refugees who want to explore relocating to Westmoreland County.

Through a screening process, five families opted to relocate after touring the area and meeting with employers. They are in the process of applying for full citizenship. They were assisted in landing a job, finding housing and receiving financial assistance to pay for utilities and for English as a Second Language lessons for three months. They also were offered spiritual and mental health support, Kulick said.

One of the Ukrainian refugees, Dariia Savenko, who lives in Greensburg, is working as a nursing assistant at Redstone Highlands Communities in Greensburg and another job as a housekeeper, Kulick said. She had been living in a refugee camp with her two children and wanted to leave her country because “I worried about life for my kids,” she told the diocese.

Kulick issued a plea to human resource managers of companies to consider hiring the refugees. The relocation program will provide translation services during an interview and when they begin the job.

John Dickson, president of Redstone Highlands, said the organization has been involved in several initiatives and had previously brought Filipino nurses to the country to work in the nursing home. He acknowledged that sometimes there are language barriers for the refugees to overcome.

The efforts to help the Ukrainian refugees come to the United States in the 21st century points back to the shared history of many people in the region whose parents and grandparents immigrated here to work in the economic powerhouses of the region — the steel mills, coal mines and glass plants.

“It is not out a sense of obligation” that the diocese is conducting the relocation program, but “we love our community, our region and our state,” Kulick said.

Speaking to those in leadership roles, Kulick said that they “should not allow outside influences to … guide our future.”

The diocese hopes to bring another five Ukrainian refugee families already in the United States to the area next summer, the bishop said.

Mona Pappafava-Ray, president of General Carbide Corp. in Hempfield, has pledged $120,000 from her foundation to support the program. The initiative needs financial help to provide the housing for refugees and cover other costs, she said.

They refugees they are seeking to bring into the county are skilled workers, who really want to work “using their skills to rebuild their lives,” said Pappafava-Ray, who led efforts to provide the refugee families with Christmas gifts.

This Ukrainian refugee relocation work led by the Catholic diocese is helping to address the region’s labor shortage, said Jim Smith, president of Greensburg-based Economic Growth Connection.

“The immigrant work ethic we all had in the 20th century is here again,” Smith said.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Mona Pappafava-Ray has pledged $120,000 from her foundation and not $125,000, and to correct the spellings of Bishop Larry Kulick and Dariia Savenko.