Fund, Diocese Unite Russian Kin
Episcopal News Service. September 4, 1986 [86188]
LOS ANGELES (DPS, Sept. 4) -- The first refugee family to come from Russia to the United States through local offices of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on July 16.
Tears flowed and television cameras rolled as Gregor Sulian, 58, was reunited with his brother, Toros, 40, after seven years of separation.
Gregor, a truck driver in Russia, was accompanied by his wife, four children, son-in-law and granddaughter.
"I am very happy," Toros beamed. "Seven years is a long time to be apart." Toros and his family arrived here as refugees from Armenia in 1979, a family spokeswoman said. They now live in Hollywood.
The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, the Church's agency for emergency aid to disaster areas, agriculture development and other projects around the world, is also a voluntary agency through which refugees can come to the United States.
Local cases are processed by Diocesan Refugee Coordinator Joye Cawley, based at the Immigrant and Refugee Center at St. Anselm's Church, Garden Grove. Mr. Tranh Van Le assists Cawley at the center, which was established in 1976.
"We arrange transportation, handle paperwork and offer assistance as needed," Cawley said. "We coordinate resettlement, help refugees find homes, if necessary, and direct them to services such as MediCal, for which they are eligible.
"We also give each refugee an initial resettlement check, usually $200 per person," Cawley said. "The amount is determined at the discretion of the Fund."
Individual or families of refugees must have a relative or friend who agrees to sponsor them for immigration, she noted.
Churches may also serve as sole sponsors or co-sponsors with relatives. Congregations are currently needed to serve in these capacities, Cawley added.
Last fiscal year, the Refugee Center received 439 refugees in the diocese, and nationwide, some 1,779 arrived through the Presiding Bishop's Fund, Cawley said.
More immigrants settle within the six-county boundaries of the Diocese of Los Angeles than in any other area in the United States, according to Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) statistics.
However, "the only area that resettles slightly more people for the Presiding Bishop's Fund is the Diocese of Olympia (Washington), where there has been a large influx of Asian refugees," Cawley said.
"Here we are used to receiving large families of Vietnamese and other groups too," Cawley said, "but it is unusual for us to get such a large group from Russia." (Persons leaving Russia, or any Communist nation, are considered refugees automatically by the United States.)
The Presiding Bishop's Fund "has been very helpful," said Toros' daughter, Elizabeth Pogosian. "We appreciate it because our family comes here with nothing: no money, no nothing. They do not speak English. But with (the Fund's) help, we can get by."