Russia-Ukraine

Watch: Harvard student tells CNN how he created a website to match Ukrainian refugees with homes

Avi Schiffmann thought the tools available were "inadequate." So he made his own.

Avi Schiffmann and Marco Burstein

By Marta Hill

2 minutes to read

Two first-year students at Harvard came together to use their tech skills for good, by helping Ukrainian refugees find places to stay after leaving the country. 

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ramped up, Avi Schiffmann and Marco Burstein developed a site called Ukraine Take Shelter that is accessible to both those looking to help refugees and refugees seeking shelter. 

The pair worked together across time zones (Schiffmann was in San Diego and Burstein was in Cambridge), through a few sleepless nights and eventually launched the tool early in March. 

“I kind of just looked into what was going on in the world in terms of how these refugees are getting connected with hosts,” Schiffmann told the The Boston Globe. “I felt that the tools that were being used were very inadequate.”

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Schiffmann, a self-described “internet activist,” is also responsible for one of the largest and earliest COVID-19 tracking sites. 

Since Ukraine Take Shelter’s launch, the duo has continued to make updates, including security precautions, translating it to more languages, and updating the user interface.

This week, Schiffmann went on CNN to share more about the platform. 

CNN showed two photos of a family, one when they were hiding in Ukraine and another when they were safely relocated in France with the help of Ukraine Take Shelter. 

“That photo is incredible. Especially because three days after that family arrived at that home in France, their home in Ukraine was destroyed by Russian bombs,” Schiffmann said on CNN. “That was really incredible to see that this website is not only able to help people find housing, but in a way also save their lives.”

Schiffmann and Burstein aren’t the only people with Massachusetts ties who are doing their best to help abroad. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the United States would accept up to 100,000 of those displaced by the conflict. And comments made by Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this month indicate that Massachusetts would welcome refugees. 

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“I think everybody feels awful about the horrific events that are taking place in the Ukraine, and we certainly would step up and help some of those folks if they make their way to the U.S., absolutely,” according to a transcript of a March 1 statement by Baker.

There are six agencies in the state that work with the U.S. State Department and national partners to resettle refugees, the Globe reported this week. 

Jeffery Kinney, the chief of strategic development at the Ascentria Care Alliance in Worcester, told the Globe that the organization would try to resettle refugees in communities that already have an established Ukrainian population, such as the Greater Springfield area.  

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