When Sarah Gregor heard that Russia invaded Ukraine, she immediately thought of one family.

Volodomyr Zolotov had visited the Chatham Bible Church in Hazelwood in the past as a traveling pastor, said Gregor, the congregation’s office manager. When Ukrainians were uprooted by war, church members mobilized to help bring Zolotov, his wife, Yevheniia, and their four children to safety in the U.S.

The Biden administration in April announced the Uniting for Ukraine program to bring up to 100,000 Ukrainians to the U.S. for up to two years if they found a U.S. sponsor.

But since Zolotov and his family arrived, Gregor has found it confusing to get them help under the program. As Ukrainians admitted under the program are on humanitarian parole, they aren’t entitled to many benefits that refugees who come through resettlement programs are.

“It's still new enough and still fresh enough [that] we really need to help people that want to do this,” said Gregor, who is the family's sponsor. “Because there's no point in having this program if you can't actually navigate it.”

More than 200 Ukrainians are coming to the St. Louis area, many of them through the Uniting for Ukraine program, according to the International Institute. Over 700 Missourians have applied to sponsor Ukrainians statewide, the institute said.

Because the program is so new and different from refugee programs, many sponsors and volunteers aren’t sure exactly how to help the new arrivals.

More than 50 Chatham Bible Church volunteers help members of the family with everything — including driving them to the grocery store and teaching them English.

“Without help of church, it would be much difficult to move here and to try to start new life here in the United States,” Zolotov said.

Even local refugee centers and government agencies aren’t exactly sure how to navigate the program, said Dave and Maureen Greiner, who met Zolotov’s family through the church years ago.

“Even when we call the agencies, everyone's kind of scratching their heads,” Dave Greiner said. “No one has a template for how to do this.”