Children look through a car windows as they and other refugees from the Kharkov Region of Ukraine as they arrive at temporary camp in Belgorod, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. Thousands fled fled northeastern Ukraine to Russia amid Ukrainian counteroffensive in the region. (AP Photo)

“I think it’s very very important that we be as compassionate as we can be.”

That’s the heart of ongoing local Ukrainian refugee work, according to Tim Pierotti, who is spearheading the effort.

A meeting back in June drew about 75 people from the community that were interested in hearing about how they could get involved with the effort.

More than 20 offered completed a form detailing how specifically they could get involved.

Pierotti said that included offers of financial assistance and “other sweat equity kind of things” once refugees arrive.

The effort has continued, albeit quietly, over the summer months.

“We’ve made, I think, significant progress,” he said. “I think we’re really close to having some big news.”

Much of the work since the June meeting has been building a network to make the work sustainable.

Pierotti said First Lutheran Church set aside $5,000 in a special account and that partnerships have been formed with the Ukraine Relief Initiative as well as the Hispanic Community Council of Chautauqua County, which is serving as a non-profit financial agent.

“We have been designated by them to receive significant help,” he said.

A county-commissioned study placed the number of refugees the county should support anywhere from 10 to 50.

“I don’t think we’re going to get to 50,” Pierotti said. “We are looking at it one family at a time.”

Father Rick Tomasone was instrumental in bringing the first family to Warren County.

“I think we’re very close to having a second family,” Pierotti said, explaining that he is aware of three additional families and one individual who could potentially come here.

“We as a small group can only handle so much at once,” he noted.

And there is, not surprisingly, much governmental bureaucracy to work through in this process.

He said there is a need for more people to be sponsors and sponsoring can be both individual or as part of a community group and that anyone interested should visit ukraine.welcome.us.

“Just reading that stuff helps you to feel empowered to do something,” he said. “I’d encourage anybody to do that.”

Pierotti is leading this effort from a place of gratitude.

“For me personally, I guess I’ve spent enough time in other countries that I know how blessed we are to live here,” he said. “And I’m also a person of faith and I know that many, many times in scripture in the Old Testament (that) God’s people were commanded to take care of the alien. Jesus began his life as a refugee. I think it’s very, very important that we be as compassionate as we can be, help those people in whatever way we can that are just being brutalized by that maniac.”

At this stage, he said that the best way for someone to get involved is to consider a donation to the fund established for the effort.

“It doesn’t have to be us doing it,” he said. “The more broadly it can be a community event, the better.”