North Texas Refugee Aid Organizations Prepared To Take In Ukrainians
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Since the Russian invasion began, reports indicate nearly 900,000 Ukrainians have fled to surrounding European countries.
Here in North Texas, refugee resettlement organizations are ready to take in Ukrainian refugees if and when they get the green light.
"We're still ready. We have capacity, we have the infrastructure, we have the programming, the services, staff, the community - all of the above to continue to assist and ramp up if we need to," said Mark Hagar, Area Director for Refugee Services of Texas.
Hagar said the organization has resettled a few dozen Ukrainians families since 2014, but adds it's a waiting game to see if they'll resettle more. "For Ukraine, I think we're going to have to wait and see if we need to make any increases in our capacity and staffing and our interpretation if we need to search out Ukrainian interpreters to have more of those on staff."
Hagar said they'll know within a two-week timeframe who is coming so they can prepare. "That gives us time to reserve an apartment, to assign a family to a case manager, order furniture or get it donated."
Local support matters too, said Hagar, when resettling into a new place, and a person can connect with others who know where you're coming from.
Hagar said there's a few things people can donate to help families resettling to the area need:
- New mattress and pillows
- Newer model laptops or tablets
- Bicycles
- Car seats for children
If you would like to learn more about Refugee Services of Texas, click here: https://www.rstx.org/
