One Year Since Park Resettled Ukranian Family
In October, it was one year since Park resettled the wonderful Sobchuk family from Ukraine in their apartment in Lyndhurst. All the members of the family--- Ivan, Tetiana, Vlad (age 11), and Matthew (age 1 ½)—have had a good first year in Cleveland. Ivan began by working as a carpenter, building decks for new houses. He has been doing long-distance truck driving since May, driving a semi-trailer truck with cargo to Idaho and back every week. Tetiana has spent the year learning English and taking care of Matthew and Vlad. Vlad finished the 5th grade at Greenview Middle School in South Euclid, and then went to Park Day Camp for a week before breaking his foot in an accident outside his home. During the school year, Vlad took weekly piano lessons from Peter Tavens. He is now a 6th grader at Heritage Christian School in Bainbridge. Matthew grew by leaps and bounds this past year and is now running around and learning to speak both Ukrainian and English.
When Ivan is home on the weekends, he and Vlad enjoy going fishing and the whole family loves walking in Acacia Metropark. Vlad even accompanied his father on two different truck trips to Idaho during the summer. It was quite an experience for him, giving Vlad a chance to see many western states! Vlad also loves riding his new bike that Park gave him at his 11th birthday party. The whole family Is active in their church on the west side of Cleveland.
Annie and David Roth, Chairs of the Ukrainian Resettlement Committee, and many other Resettlement volunteers have become close friends with the Sobchuk’s, helping them in many ways and taking them to visit a variety of Cleveland landmarks—Cleveland Zoo, Cleveland History Center, Holden Arboretum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and more. The family also took a trip by themselves to see Niagara Falls, NY (see photo above) while Ivan’s sister was visiting them from Poland during the summer.
The Sobchuk’s have chosen to stay in their apartment in Lyndhurst for another year, and thanks to continued assistance from the owners of the building, they are able to do that and also save money to help bring other members of their extended family to the US in the future. Ivan’s goal is to save enough to start his own carpentry company with one or more of his brothers (who are still waiting in Poland to emigrate to the US).
Looking back on this past year, helping resettle the Sobchuk’s was a wonderful experience for the many Park volunteers who helped with this important project. Thank you again to all the Resettlement volunteers and generous donors who made this project such a success. The Sobchuk’s are so grateful to the Park community for all the financial and moral support they received from everyone. While Park’s financial support to the family ended in October after one year, we will continue to be available to the Sobchuk’s as they need advice and other help. They have become our friends and will remain close to us. We only wish them good luck, good health, and to prosper in the future.
