By Phil Zimmer
A dedicated, determined crew of volunteers and professionals have banded together to welcome vetted immigrants to Jamestown and its environs.
The New Neighbors Coalition works with Journey’s End Refugee Services (JERS) in Buffalo to provide support for more than 100 refugees from conflicts and suffering around the world to settle in the community. The Coalition has dedicated efforts to assist roughly another 45 immigrants who have arrived in Jamestown on their own.
Community volunteers are key to the effort, notes Reverend Luke Fodor who is a driving force behind the Coalition. Some 30 volunteers both from local churches and the community at large, help set up housing for the new arrivals, drive them to doctors and employment appointments, and generally help them become familiar with their new and somewhat confusing surroundings.
The Coalition and volunteers have sponsored a variety of activities to help the refugees become more familiar with life in Chautauqua County. The activities have included a skating and bumper car outing at the Northwest Arena, a well-attended Thanksgiving dinner, a Jamestown Tarp Skunks game, and an outing to Midway State Park.
The refugees hail from trouble spots around the globe, including Venezuela, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Journey’s End Refugee Services and the Coalition work closely with each other to help provide support for resettled refugees, notes Beth Litton, JERS Community Outreach Manager.
Most of the refugees have been here less than a year, but several have already landed employment with local hotels, industrial companies and personal care operations after the rather lengthy process of obtaining their work papers.
Contrary to often-held preconceptions, these workers are not displacing native-born Americans, notes Momina Di Blasio, New Neighbors Manager. She cites the work of Nobel-prizewinning economist Paul Krugman. Writing in the Feb. 5 issue of The New York Times, Krugman notes that the American economy has recovered quite quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks in part to a growth of 2.9 million workers—all while the native-born labor force has declined slightly due to retirements during that time frame. And these new workers pay into Social Security, Medicare and contribute to property taxes which helps everyone over the long haul, he adds.
Looking to the future, plans are afoot to eventually expand the Coalition’s work to Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties. Individuals wishing to volunteer should contact Di Blasio at momina@stlukesjamestown.org or St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at (716) 483-6405.