Madison Reporter

Denys Popovych is doing everything he can for his mother and sister to have another chance at life.

The Baraboo resident and Ukrainian immigrant recently applied on his sister’s behalf for President Joe Biden’s new “Uniting for Ukraine” program, which is overseen by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). He said he is also working with immigration lawyers and local and state officials to expedite the process.

With his sister Nataliia and mom Larysa now staying in a Romanian hotel after being forced to flee their war-torn homeland, Popovych is desperate to get his sister a temporary U.S. visa before she’s forced to return to their home country.

Years ago, before any hint of the war now raging, Popovych's mother obtained a tourist visa for the U.S. and is now able to travel here, but Popovych said she has vowed not leave without her 28-year-old daughter.

“I feel so helpless,” he told NBC15.com. “I don’t know what to do anymore. It seems like I’m a little tiny mouse in a room with no windows and doors. I don’t know where to go or who to ask.”

To date, Popovych said the only information he has received related to his sister’s application is confirmation that it was received and is now pending.

In a position to financially provide for his mother and sister, Popovych said he submitted an I-134 request. He said time is of the essence because his sister cannot continue to stay in Romania without applying to be a European refugee, meaning she might have to live in conditions he describes as “less than ideal” without her family.

“As days and weeks go by, this spark of hope and joy is fading,” he told NBC15.com. “I’m getting exhausted and scared that maybe it’s somehow not what I was thinking or hoping.”

Popovych credits coworkers like Dawn Webber with aiding him in dealing with all the stress, saying, "There hasn’t been a day Dawn hasn’t popped into my office to stop and ask, what’s the situation?”

He added that the staff at the Royle Printing facility in Sun Prairie, where he’s worked for the last decade, recently raised $5,000 through a bake sale to help pay for his family’s flight, whenever the time comes.

“His best day is going to be when they’re here, and they’re all having a barbecue,” Weber said, according to NBC15.com. “It’s a very simple thing, but wow, it brings reality to and remembrance of really what’s important.”