Supporting Families: Zarina & Jonny's Story of Hope
Fleeing persecution in their native Russia, Zarina and her family—husband, Jonny, and their young daughter— traveled on the backs of shipping barges all the way to the Bay area. Today, the family has made great progress in achieving self-sufficiency due to their own hard work and the support of Catholic Charities and its Parish Engagement Program.
“Their amazing story really highlights the importance of a community-based, multi-service approach to addressing a family’s needs so they can thrive,” said Bridget Balajadia, the Program Director of Parish Engagement, which helped the family navigate through other Catholic Charities resources to meet their needs including food, housing, education, employment, legal counseling, and material goods.
After their initial arrival, Zarina reached out to Catholic Charities to get clothing for her daughter and was connected with the Parish Engagement Office at Our Lady of Refuge Parish in San Jose. Our staff managed to help her through a translation app and learned the family was living in a storage container with no access to electricity or running water. And Zarina was unexpectedly pregnant with their second child.
Through the “Everybody Loves a Baby” initiative, a group of volunteers from Santa Teresa Parish in South San Jose quickly sprang into action and assembled a list of what Zarina’s family needed. Meanwhile, the Parish Engagement team worked with a local generous landlord who rented the family an apartment at a much lower rate than what he would typically charge.
Catholic Charities provided initial rent support while the volunteers from “Everybody Loves a Baby” gathered not only clothing and items needed for Zarina’s pregnancy, but also furniture, cooking and cleaning supplies. Volunteers helped enroll the family’s eldest daughter in school and signed up for childcare.
Jonny began working at a job in the moving business while Zarina accessed Pathways, an Employment Network program at Catholic Charities. When Jonny got COVID last year and was unable to work for a month, our Housing department was able to cover the rent for them so that they would stay housed. The family also received groceries from our food distribution and met with our Immigration Legal Services team for legal advice regarding their asylum process.
Zarina is currently expecting their third child and the family is joyfully awaiting the baby’s arrival in December. “Everybody Loves a Baby” continues to support her and her children with diapers and formula as needed when money runs tight for the family.
“We couldn’t have done it without support from Catholic Charities,” Zarina said.
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“Everybody Loves a Baby’’ is based at Santa Teresa Parish and provides essential baby needs, support for maternal care, breastfeeding support, and limited financial assistance. Learn more by calling 408-829-7104.
