ALBANY — When a family from Burma was greeted by glowing pumpkins and vampires last October, Linda Hutton had some trouble settling them in.

They arrived as refugees to the United States on Halloween, and they were the first family that she helped to resettle here.
"I had a hard time explaining that people didn’t usually look like that," said Hutton, a volunteer with the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

The committee is one of 10 certified agencies with which the United States government contracts to resettle refugees around the country. It has been in Albany since 2005 and has settled about 300 people here.
In the coming months, the Albany office expects to get between 30 and 50 people per month who will be resettled in the area, according to Steffa Krisniski, a coordinator for the USCRI. The committee needs volunteers like Hutton, "to be the American friend of the family," she said.

The committee, which depends largely on government grants and private donations, also collects donations of household items, warm clothes, and school supplies.
For volunteers, the hours are flexible, Hutton said, and no special training is required. Her favorite part is working with the children, but, she said, the volunteer work is "great for anybody who wants to get to know somebody from a different culture. It’s a nice addition to the family."

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Donations may be sent to: U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, 10 N. Russell Road, Albany, NY 12206