Miami restaurant chain plans to house and employ 50 refugees from Ukraine
A local chain of Argentine steakhouses has committed to helping 50 refugee families from the Ukraine, pledging to house them, provide transportation and hire them as part of an aid program announced Tuesday.
Speaking from the Brickell location of Baires Grill, managers stood by Mayor Francis Suarez and commissioners Ken Russell and Manolo Reyes to announce the initiative. The restaurant’s owners thought of the idea to help people who have fled the country in the weeks since Russia invaded. Miami city officials arranged Tuesday’s press conference to publicize the efforts.
“This group of local restaurateurs decided to step up, voluntarily and willingly, to the call for help in a way that is truly above and beyond,” Suarez told reporters. The mayor said the restaurant chain will pay for travel and housing for refugees, who will also have the opportunity to work at Baires Grill locations in Miami, Miami Beach, Weston, Coral Gables and Sunny Isles Beach.
The owners of the chain are partnering with immigration attorneys at the The Hachar Law Group, a firm based in Miami Lakes, to help the refugees navigate the legal side. The overall cost of the project is unclear, according to organizers at Tuesday’s presser, who said they are working with groups stateside and in Poland to identify Ukrainian refugees for the program.
“We’re going to handle the paperwork, all of the immigration requirements,” said Natalia Denegri, an actress and part owner of Baires Grill.
Suarez described the effort, which is privately funded and is only being promoted by city officials, as a demonstration of the capacity Miami has to meet multiple needs with one initiative.
“I think this is a marriage of two important initiatives,” he said. “One is to help the Ukrainian people who have been exiled from their country and are homeless, essentially, in other parts of the world. And two, a need for employees here in restaurants across the country and in this city in particular.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 4:53 PM.
