ST. LOUIS — Eugene Koblents and Isabella Gipkhin's house in St. Louis tells a story of how two worlds collided in America.
"I came from Belarus in 1989," Gipkhin said.
"I came from Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia in 1994. We met each other over here in 1999 and fell in love," Koblents said.
Koblents worked as a St. Louis tour guide for Russian speakers, while Giphkin worked 25 years in a Walgreens pharmacy.
Once they retired, they started hosting families from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus who needed spinal surgery.
"We have a basement, they live in the basement and we provide food for them, and I take them everyday to the hospital, and we have 11 families already stay in our house," Gipkhin said.
As the war unfolds in Ukraine, they're showing support by preparing their home for refugees and already waiting for one woman and her son to leave Ukraine.
"While they are waiting until maybe Friday, they'll take train from Zaporizhzhia to Romania to maybe Poland and we'll buy tickets for them to come to United States," Gipkhin said.
Gipkhin's daughter Inna Kogan and close friend, Luda Chernyak who moved from Belarus as a child made a Facebook page called 'Help Refugees in St. Louis" to call on people for help.
"It was very difficult from a personal experience I came when I was 9. it wasn't easy, and I wasn't escaping a war-torn country," Chernyak said.
"I have about 130 people who want to help. It's not only Russian it's American people, mostly American people. They want to help they're calling me they will give jobs, they will give food, they will give money they will give clothes. Everything," Gipkhin said.
Despite the differences happening across the world, Koblents says their home in St. Louis welcomes everyone.
"We built our life as best as we can, we never, never ever shamed Russia. never. Russia shamed us," Koblents said
You can imagine how difficult it must be for Ukrainians to flee the country, with airports being bombed and thousands of people rushing the borders in neighboring countries.
The State Department told our CNN partners that they're working with people who are approved for U.S. resettlement to reschedule their travel where possible through their Resettlement Support Center.