ST. FRANCIS, Wis. — Polonez Restaurant in St. Francis rallied the community to help a Ukrainian refugee family settle into the Milwaukee area.

Peter Burzynski owns the restaurant.

Burzynski said after they saw a post on Facebook about a family of four Ukrainian refugees needing a home, the restaurant did their own post in March to help.

“We have a big podium with a lot of Facebook followers, a lot of Instagram followers,” Burzynski said. “We could draw people’s attention to the situation and do some fundraising along with their aide.”

Over the next month, the post was liked and shared more than 200 times.

Burzynski said that because of the community support, the family was able to move into a home in Cudahy.

“We are really grateful to all of our customers and patrons,” Burzynski said. “I know a lot of us, especially a lot of you who have been coming to us for almost 40 years now.”

As someone with a Polish background, the reason to help this family was simple.

“We have an inherited history of being refugees, dating only one generation back so we could definitely empathize,” said Burzynski.

Burzynski said the work doesn’t stop here. They continue to support the family through financial donations on Venmo @ukrainianrefugeerent or by sending checks to the restaurant.

Polonez Restaurant is also fundraising for Ukrainian refugees through the Kosciuszko foundation. This is because Burzynski knows that there are still so many that need help.