AP Photo Ukrainian refugee Mariia Hlyten holds a sign outside the NATO summit in Washington in July. Hlyten joined a group of about eight demonstrators calling for continued support of Ukraine.

It’s been over two years since the first Ukrainian refugee family arrived in Warren.

It started as a family-by-family process facilitated by local connections around the globe.

“There is a network of people. It’s kind of loosely organized,” Tom Pierotti, one of the organizers at First Lutheran Church, said.

To say the local response has grown would be an understatement.

A total of 18 refugees have come through Warren.

An ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) class is up and running.

Volunteers have stepped up to help people settle into life in Warren, or sponsor refugees, directly providing a lifeline out of a warzone.

As needs come up, they’re met.

“It’s not just the Ukrainians that are benefitting,” Pierotti said, highlighting the people from the Philippines, Cuba, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Brazil and the Philippines that are participating in the ESOL class.

And there’s the benefit for the people doing the work.

“It’s our church,” he said, “that can have a little different attitude.”

The seeds of this effort were planted when Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022.

“We’ve kinda been doing all this without a whole lot of organization,” Pierotti, saying that a “small group of people is trying to meet some needs.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that 6.3 million Ukrainians have fled the country since then, with another 3.7 million displaced within the country.

Ukraine’s population is just 38 million, meaning that over one-in-three have been displaced by the war.

“It’s becoming clear that the needs aren’t going away,” he added. “We’re going to need some more organization if we’re going to be more efficient.”

Pierotti sponsored one of the first families to come to Warren County.

Has the local effort grown more than he thought it might.

“Honestly, I think I have to say I was so overwhelmed on the small group, this family,” he said. “I didn’t allow myself to go too far. I was so busy doing what has to be done now.

“As needs have happened though, new people have stopped up.”

That doesn’t mean that there are no needs at the moment, though.

“We become keenly aware that we need more housing,” Pierotti said. “(There is) white a list of people that want to come.”

There are even sponsors lined up to host them.

“What we really have found to be an issue is lack of housing. We have more people that have sponsors and are ready to come. (We) have no place to put them.”

There’s also a need for vehicles.

“I think the way to go with that is probably to create a vehicle donation program.” he siad.

Of the 18 refugees who have come to Warren, seven are living here currently.

Some have moved for work.

Others have moved to join other family members.

There are also places in the country with Ukrainian communities where churches speak Ukrainian and schools teach in Ukrainian.

“We did at least get them started here,” Pierotti said.

The idea for Warren as a stop off on a journey to somewhere else wasn’t exactly part of the plan.

“We understand that,” Pierotti said, “especially if you come from a big city with millions of people, Warren is a lot different. It makes sense that they would move. There’s some grief involved with losing them. We know we gave them a good start, got them to a place that’s safe, kind of acclimate to our culture and that’s a lot.”

The feedback about the community has been positive.

“We have to feel good about what we’ve done. … They all just praise their experience in Warren,” Pierotti said. “(They) say people are so kind, so welcoming. … Warren is basically a gracious community.”

The experiences of the last couple years have been a reminder of the blessing that immigration can be.

“If we’ve been here too many generations we start to take things for granted,” Pierotti said. “They think ‘Oh my gosh, this is magnificent. How wonderful.’ We kind of think it’s ordinary and nothing special.

“It reminds us of the good things we have when we see how happy they are.”