Murrysville man helps resettle Ukrainian refugees with sponsor program
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Anthony Bucciero of Murrysville was surprised to discover the similarities between the economies of Ukraine and Pennsylvania.
“It’s a lot like Pennsylvania, with a lot of farming and manufacturing,” said Bucciero, CEO of Guardian Construction Management Services in Murrysville. “And to think that someone has just come in and bombed the hell out of the place, I felt bad and got online trying to see what I could do.”
Bucciero came across the Welcome.US website, a national initiative to help those seeking refuge in the U.S. find a sponsor and settle here, including residents of the Ukraine, Afghanistan and Venezuela.
“Everyone wants you to send money, but you don’t always know where it’s going or how effective it will be,” Bucciero said. “With this, you can sign up to become a sponsor, which is what I did. People from the Ukraine can connect to you through the WhatsApp (social media) app.”
In many instances, stateside sponsors do not have to provide housing, food and other essentials for families they sponsor.
“A lot of these folks are the ones who left early,” Bucciero said. “They have money, education and job skills. They pay for airfare to get here, and all they need is a U.S. citizen sponsor. Within four weeks, I got the forms filled out, and the family I sponsored was in the U.S., living with their relatives in Columbus, Ohio.”
One of the forms, filed through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is the I-134 form, filled out by both sponsors and overseas families. And while it is a declaration of financial support, it is not a commitment to finance a family’s stay in the U.S.
Most families, Bucciero said, have the financial resources they need and hosts in the U.S.
“They want to make sure you have the resources to help the families, but that’s not what directly affects whether an application gets approved or not — it’s just part of the paperwork, so I look at this as a win-win,” Bucciero said. “When I connect with someone on WhatsApp, I have a whole list of questions I can ask about whether people have housing, airfare, job skills, a resume, all those types of things.”
Bucciero approached Jim Smith, president and CEO of the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland, about the potential advantages of the program for the local economy.
“We have an older population that is retiring, and they can possibly use this program to get skilled folks into the county who are ready and willing to work,” Bucciero said.
Smith said that while county officials have not engaged with or taken an official stance on the program, he is intrigued by it.
“We’ve been holding discussions with employers for years now about the future of our workforce and the huge national issue of workers preparing to retire,” Smith said. “And here in Western Pennsylvania, we’re a little older than the rest of the country, so we’re dealing with these issues a little sooner than others.”
Smith said he envisions the solution to a steady county workforce as a combination of methods, but the Welcome.US program could certainly be part of it.
“I think it’s a very intriguing notion, not only because it’s a morally good thing to do, but we’ve got an incredible similarity in economies between the Ukraine and Pennsylvania,” he said. “So you’re talking about people who have skills and are able to bring their resources with them. And if we can help them get set up with a living situation and transportation, it will make it that much easier for them to begin integrating into the economy and workforce.”
For more on the program, visit Welcome.US.