A small group of people of about ten from Hilbert spent some time at the Jewish Family Services campus helping clean and refurnish the rooms for future families, from 9:30 to noon. The campus, which was 20 minutes away from Hilbert, is open every weekday from eight am to five pm. When cleaning the rooms, the students and site leader vacuumed, wiped the windows down and removed any garbage, and re-furnished the rooms with new bedding or chairs. The group of ten people broke into three groups and did two or three rooms on the main floor and then another two-three rooms.

Rachel Wozniak said Day of Service is an important event because we are helping our community in the best way possible: giving back. “Franciscan Day of Caring is a special day in the Hilbert academic calendar… allows us the opportunity to set aside our needs and focus on the priorities of the community.”

The planning of it typically starts immediately after the annual Day of Caring is completed, Wozniak adds on that the planning is done “roughly three to four months in advance. Wozniak said the shirts we wore on that day with the Mother Collete quote of “In all things, charity”, is the best way to explain Day of Caring.

“The back of our shirt this year sums up the day perfectly with the Mother Colette quote: In all things, charity’”. Day of Caring involves many organizations in the Western New York Community, one of the organizations being Jewish Family Services located in Buffalo.

Jewish Family Services on the Weinburg Campus is a newly associated partner for Weinburg Campus, as the original owners of the buildings on Weinburg campus was for seniors, the owners realized there were more rooms available than anticipated, so they partnered with Jewish Family services to welcome new refugees to the Western New York Area. Jewish Family Services are also known as a resettlement place. Dascha Valuyskaya, who is an employee, explained how the services works:“Our resettlement, are people who fall under the refugee status, so those who are overseas, go through an immigration process and get accepted through the refugee status,” Valuyskaya said. “They come here, and we find them apartments, we clean them, we furnish the apartments… We will stay with them for about 3 months; make sure they settle in, which sounds like a long time but it’s not especially when you’re in a new country”.

Valuyskaya, who works specifically with the community engagement program on Weinburg campus, said she helps new families in Buffalo get comfortable with their new surroundings, and introduces them to local stores.

“We connect with people who still need help, she said “We will set them up with volunteers, English tutoring, circles of care, in which volunteers stay with the family for six months”. While finding a local grocery store may be easy for us, it’s not as easy for those who are new to the country. Valuyskaya emphasized the importance of getting the families comfortable with their area:

“Showing them libraries, go to the parks, where you can get groceries, clothes,” she said.

In addition to familiarizing the new community members to their area, Jewish Family Services also helps with legal documents, Valuyskaya said. “We also provide other services like case management; we will sign them up for government benefits…we will enroll kids into school”.

Manager of the Jewish Family Services Matt Stewart discussed another program they do, which is case management.

“Adding onto the community care program, we do case management”. Case management is a legal document for the government. 

While most are probably wondering how long the actual process is to get into the system of a new country, Valuyskaya explained the differences between a refugee and an asylum seeker as well.

“The average wait time for an individual in a refugee camp to process their claim and fly into a new country is twenty years…for asylum seekers it’s hard to track cause we can’t really track how long ago they left their country so we track from the moment they hit the border but it can still be years” Valuyskaya said. “[While] they’re in that process of obtaining asylum, they aren’t legally eligible to obtain any benefits, to work, that’s why shelters are essential to have a place to stay”.

Another program, manager Stewart discussed was the holocaust survivor program. “Our holocaust survivor program has around 75 here in the region,” Stewart said.  “The youngest is 79, and the oldest will be 115 in November. We also have a couple turning 115, 116. So, we’ve got some longevity in the program”.  Additionally, Stewart said the survivors in the program continue to get asked to tell their stories of the Holocaust.

When Valuyskaya and Stewart were asked about how important it is to keep getting volunteers throughout, they discussed the housing prices as a challenge for anyone.

“We appreciate it, this little campus we have here has kind of be our little saving grace as you know the housing prices really sucks,” Valuyskaya said. “It’s hard for anyone to find affordable decent housing so this has been our little safe haven at least for people who are single, a couple and they could stay here with leases starting at three months, not huge commitments prolong it as long as they need.”

Hilbert’s site leader at Jewish Family Services, Kera – Bush Turner, said if she had to encourage people to volunteer she would say that everyone has gotten help at least once in their lives, and helped someone else’s life to make a difference. “I believe that almost everyone has had a moment in their lives where they received help from someone,” Bush Turner said. “It’s that idea of “paying it forward” that can make such a difference in someone’s day or even life”.

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