The war in Ukraine has been raging for nearly two years, with human impacts across the globe. In New York, a family in Hoosick Falls connected with refugees through a sponsorship-focused organization.
Jennifer Schuttig is a Hoosick Falls mom who recently decided to sponsor and take in a family of refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
An engineer by trade, Schuttig owns a home with her husband Dan outside downtown Hoosick Falls, a village in Rensselaer County. She was driven to do something about the humanitarian crisis. At first, she wasn’t looking to take in a whole family.
“At first I really wanted to take in a foster kid," explained Schuttig. "Because I was watching how some of the Ukrainian kids were going to these camps in Russia. And, so, I was like ‘maybe I can, like, foster a kid, I’m sure there’s a lot of kids out there that need a parent.’ And there was really no way to do that.”
She eventually found Welcome.US, an organization that connects potential sponsors with would-be immigrants. Schuttig compares it to Tinder or Hinge.
“What the platform does is you put down, like a dating app, ‘I can take in, at maximum, four people or three people." Schuttig continued, "I don’t want animals, you know. I don’t want this, I don’t want smoking.’ But also on the platform when they tell you about themselves it is easier to connect with someone more like you.”
Welcome.US was founded in 2021 after the fall of Kabul.
Viktoria Dragun, her husband Sergei, and son Nikita moved to the U.S. in 2022, but their long journey began as Russian fighters arrived in Donetsk. Viktoria’s family fled to the suburbs of Kyiv. The conflict followed them once again, leading to a difficult conversation.
“And the second time Sergei, my husband, told me that ‘Viktoria, we need to go, it’s unsafe to stay here,’” said Dragun.
They decided it was time to build a safer life for their teenage son, Nikita.
“We are not young, and we need to start to build safety, life— to build a future for our son. Yes, so we take our cat and go," said Dragun. "Yes, in the first days it was really unsafe to stay—to be in Kyiv. And we live near—not in the city center—we live around Kyiv and this was the first place Russian soldiers came.”
Before Viktoria, Sergei, and Nikita arrived, the Schuttigs had to prepare their house to accommodate for another family. They emptied two rooms of their home to give the Draguns their own space.
“But it was a lot of house rearranging, house remodeling," said Schuttig. "A lot of cleaning. My family and friends came over to help me clean. Move furniture, get furniture, assemble furniture.”
Despite the help from family and friends, Jennifer’s daughter, Genevieve, joked that tensions could get high.
“Pretty stressful, because my mom was like “Move this, go, chop chop!”
Once Viktoria’s family was in New York, the Schuttigs wasted no time acclimating their new companions.
“Dan was like, ‘listen, if they’re coming from another country, we cannot pick them up in New York City and not see the Statue of Liberty,’ said Schuttig.
The surrounding community came together to welcome the Draguns to Hoosick Falls, and provide helping hands wherever possible.
“A lot of people came, brought us some stuff for our future apartments, so we are, for a few days we were with the big eyes,” said Dragun.
Viktoria hit the ground running, ready to start the new life she and her family had crossed an ocean for.
“Viktoria is a very smart, driven woman, and I think her sheer drive has gotten her and the family over here." Schuttig continued, "she was very responsive with the emails on Welcome.US. That was wonderful, but when she got here, she was like, ‘Ok, tomorrow we go to DMV, Social Security, go visit SNAP go…’ and it’s like ‘no, no. pick one.’”
Some obstacles took more than a day to solve.
“But it took them 6 weeks, probably, they were probably here for 6 weeks to move out," said Schuttig. "Because one of the problems is that when a refugee comes here they have zero credit. No credit history. So, now you have to find a landlord willing to take in a family that has no credit history.”
The mothers weren’t the only ones to get along. While they had hoped their teenage sons would bond, their husbands, Dan and Sergei, mourned when the Draguns eventually moved into an apartment downtown owned by a former refugee.
“Dan was so sad, he was like moping," explained Schuttig. "Because him and Sergei, he’s like a brother from another mother, I’m telling you. Because Sergei doesn’t speak English well so they get the Google translator app and they go at it for hours!”
“Yes!” said Dragun
“Run their battery down, then they have to plug it in, you know," continued Schuttig.
“It’s true,” said Dragun.
While the two families were instantly fond of each other, the culture shock of being in a new country often reminded them of their differences. From food…
“Our breakfast is different. So, this family for breakfast they eat different things. So, it is almost maybe snacks,” explained Dragun.
“They love maple syrup. I kind of take that for granted in the Northeast. And camping, they like s’mores, never heard of it. And they also never heard of pb&j,” said Schuttig.
To wildlife.
“And my husband was telling them, ‘aw man there’s a skunk that comes around the porch sometimes,’ and they go ‘skunk, what is skunk?’ and so we got Google translator and found out it’s skuns," said Schuttig. "So like, ‘ok, yeah we see them in zoos.’ So I was like ‘well you know it smells really really bad,’ ‘oh yeah sure whatever.’”
“We was in our bedroom, the windows were open, and we feel the smell of cannabis." Dragun continued, "and we said, ‘Sergei, maybe its Jen and Dan having fun.’ And then after we hear ‘close the window! Close the window! The skunk sprayed!’ We go—of course, we close the window and go downstairs and Dan tells us ‘It’s skunks, it’s skunks spray the first time!’”
They quickly felt at home. The Schuttigs set up a go-fund-me and their neighbors and friends pitched in, raising enough money to get the Draguns’ new life in America off to a good start. At Sergei’s job as a chef at a local brewery, locals stick their heads in to say hello. Nikita, while not fluent in English, has a translator for some classes in high school.
They may have been in a strange land, but the Schuttigs say they were never strangers.
While Viktoria dreams of returning to her mother, who still lives in Ukraine, she knows that day may be years away. For now, she’s focused on ensuring her son can grow up in peace.
“So, Nikita, he’s, also he’s 15. He should find a place for his future," said Dragun. "Of course we will do everything first for him and for us to stay here. If everything will be OK we can return to Ukraine, of course, we can—maybe Nikita will have a good education and he will, I believe in a future that he will do something for Ukraine. Of course we believe in the better, but for now I see the situation.”
