Our New American Staff and Volunteers are continuing their work to help our Afghan clients settle into their new lives here, as well as readying for and receiving new refugee arrivals, and stepping up to meet the needs of our new Ukrainian neighbors.
To date, this fiscal year, we have assisted over 200 Afghan evacuees, over 20 Haitian parolees, a Cuban asylee, a Guatemalan asylee, and 45 refugees. In addition, we have also welcomed over 150 Ukrainians who found their way to Western Massachusetts and to JFS for help. We expect that number to go up to 300 in the coming weeks, and are working to provide cash assistance, help with applications for food stamps, support for legal needs and more! We will also be starting three new English classes for Ukrainians, as well as Cultural Orientation classes, and will be distributing Chromebooks to our new Ukrainian students.
