City leaders in Framingham, Massachusetts, say they need more help as the influx of refugees straps city resources.
"It changes by the hour," said Mayor Charles Sisitsky at a school committee meeting days ago.
The mayor says there have been three waves of families being dropped off at local motels in recent weeks, with little help from the state. And they keep coming.
"I want to alert everybody that this is a serious problem," he said. "It has the potential to have a serious impact on the school system."
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Gov. Maura Healey has declared a state of emergency, but municipalities like Framingham say they can't wait much longer for more help.
"The people coming into the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are willing to work very hard," said Jeff Thielman, CEO of the International Institute of New England, which helps thousands of refugees in Massachusetts. "They want to get a job, they want to contribute, they want to restart their lives, they want to settle in."
Thielman says the refugees can help solve a lot of the state's unemployment issues with so many jobs unfilled.
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"They can be trained," he said. "They want to learn English, we have a health care industry that has a huge shortage, we have an aging workforce."
The city of Framingham is taking donations.
"We're going to have to find better ways to deal with this situation so these people don't end up sleeping out on the street with no place to turn and no support services," said Sisitsky.
The mayor's office put out a list of items requested for donation. They can be seen below:
