BAR HARBOR — Representatives of several churches on MDI and one in Ellsworth have formed an organization for the purpose of bringing at least two Ukrainian refugee families to the area and helping them get settled in.
The Hancock County Neighborhood Support Team (NST) aims to relocate the families under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Humanitarian Parole program.
Families whose applications for resettlement are approved must have guaranteed financial support from a sponsor, such as an NST member, to get them on their feet. Their stay in this country is limited to two years, but there are several pathways through which they may become eligible for permanent resident status.
Homeland Security has contracted with various organizations around the country to match the refugees with sponsors and coach the sponsors and help them with logistics. The contractor organization that Hancock County NST is working with is Massachusetts-based WelcomeNST.
“They have matched us up with two candidate families that we hope to have relocated early in 2023,” said Seal Cove resident Art Worster, who is president of Hancock County NST’s organizational committee. “These families are in desperate situations in Ukraine, both having escaped Kherson earlier and now are in areas threatened with bombardment and degraded civilian services.
“We need to move as quickly as we can because these families are under the gun, quite literally. But the local housing market is ultimately going to determine exactly how quickly we can move. Figuring out housing is the single most important thing we have on our plates right now.”
Hancock County NST includes the four Episcopal parishes on MDI and St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Ellsworth, where Worster is vice president and treasurer.
“We have interviewed both Ukrainian families by Zoom, and both they and we have agreed that it is a good match,” he said. “The first of the families is a mother, father, 17-year-old son, 15-year-old daughter and 5-year-old daughter. At the start of the invasion, they were in Kherson, hiding under mattresses and just trying to keep from getting bombarded out. They were eventually able to escape and are now in Kyiv, where conditions are also difficult.”
Worster said the second refugee family consists of a mother, a 21-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. The mother is a gynecologist.
“She was originally Georgian, and when the Russians invaded Georgia 30 years ago, she escaped to Ukraine and went to medical school in Crimea,” Worster said. “Then, about 15 years ago, she went back to Georgia to visit her grandmother, and the Russians invaded the area they were in, so they escaped again to Ukraine. The stories of so many families are just heart-rending.”
The government’s Humanitarian Parole program tells parole applicants, “You may be eligible for federal…benefits, such as cash assistance through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), health insurance through Medicaid, and food assistance through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). You may also be eligible for cash assistance, medical assistance, employment preparation, job placement, English language training, and other services.”
Even with those possible government benefits, refugees are likely to need financial and other types of support from their sponsoring organization.
“That might include mental health services for kids who now have to walk out in the morning and, as one 17-year-old boy said, ‘When I need to go out and get food for the family, I look up at the sky to see where the missiles are going,’” Worster said.
He said Hancock County NST already has a good foundation of financial support, but more will be needed, both in the near term and to keep the program going into the future.
“We’ve got a fair amount of wealth here, particularly in the summer community,” he said. “We’ve got a number of people who are really conscientious, hard working, thoughtful and really support things that are well organized and well done. So, my job is to ensure that we meet the standards of well organized and well done.”
Anyone interested in learning more about Hancock County NST or providing support may email Art Worster at artworster@gmail.com.
