T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Mike Ladehoff, left, and Bill Martin, right, led a meeting about hosting Ukrainian refugee families at Hope United Methodist Church on Tuesday night.

When city councilor Mike Ladehoff visited the recent Holocaust exhibit at the Marshalltown Public Library, one of the biggest lessons he took away was how much more Americans could have done to resettle displaced European Jews. Now that a new refugee crisis is rapidly emerging as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he’s determined to make this community a destination for those who need a place to live.

Ladehoff, along with former councilor Bill Martin, led an informal meeting at Hope United Methodist Church on Tuesday evening to gauge interest in hosting Ukrainian families. The gathering marked the second time the group has met, and about 20 people attended.

During the most recent meeting, which lasted about an hour, Ladehoff explained the process of how potential refugees are vetted at the federal level, and he said the people fleeing Ukraine include skilled workers like dentists, nurses and teachers who are eager to find work.

Any individual or family who is interested in hosting refugees, Ladehoff added, should also assess their own available living space and resources in deciding what they can handle. Under the current State Department guidelines, displaced refugees from Ukraine can stay here for up to two years, and the Biden Administration has promised to accept up to 100,000 of them.

“I can’t imagine a better place for a family in need than this situation,” Ladehoff said. “If you’re raising kids, this is the best place to be. We’ve got great schools. We’ve got great facilities, and I think we have great people.”

One group of Ukrainians of particular interest is the 500 or so families who first traveled to Mexico then attempted to walk across the southern border until they were apprehended. Getting them to the U.S. or Canada, Ladehoff said, should be a top priority, and Iowa actually may be an ideal landing spot because of the similarity in weather and landscape to Ukraine — Chariton, for example, is now home to hundreds of residents of Ukrainian ancestry.

Representatives from several other local churches attended the meeting at Hope, and the group plans to meet again in three weeks at a different church in Marshalltown. At this point, the group does not have an official name, but the plan is to come up with one and establish a website with more specific instructions in the near future. Mayor Joel Greer plans to reach out to the Community Foundation of Marshall County (CFMC) to see if the organization could handle donations until a new mechanism is established.

Hearing stories about leveled homes and businesses — and seeing photo and video evidence — should be enough to make anyone want to help, Ladehoff said. Still, when Ladehoff and Martin asked at the end of the meeting how many attendees would definitely be willing to host a Ukrainian individual or family, only a few hands went up.

Nonetheless, Martin said he has a “really dedicated” core group at Hope ready to welcome new members of the community with open arms, and Ladehoff believes Marshalltown is more than capable of rising to the occasion. If a few families settle into the community, he hopes it will have a snowball effect.

“If you throw a challenge down at Marshalltown, everybody comes through. They really do,” Ladehoff said. “It’s a positive for everyone here, and it’s kind of a warm fuzzy (thing).”

Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.