CUNY (City University of New York) provides some background:Ukraine native Polina Lemberg got some serious help 15 years ago when she became a U.S. citizen.
Now she's giving back.
Lemberg was one of roughly 300 volunteers who streamed into a Manhattan auditorium yesterday to prepare for the eighth annual CUNY/Daily News Citizenship Now! call-in to help those with immigration questions.
"I was an immigrant, and I know how hard it is to be an immigrant when you come to a new country," said Lemberg, 52, of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
"I want to help immigrants as much as I can."
For a week every spring CUNY Citizenship Now! (formerly known as the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project) teams up with the New York Daily News to host the annual Citizenship Now! Call-In. This event provides easy access to free and confidential immigration information, aiming to provide callers' with information regarding U.S. citizenship and other immigration matters.
Individuals call with questions ranging from applying for U.S. citizenship or permanent residence to obtaining visas for family members to come to the United States. Callers also receive assistance locating free or low cost immigration services, and English and civics classes. Over 350 volunteers staff the event, most of them trained by CUNY Citizenship Now!
The 2009 call-in helped 14,704 immigrants from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states, which brought the total number of individuals assisted since the call-in began in 2003 to more than 70,000.
