Meet Market Assistant Tonya His 

Tonya His is one of four part-time market assistants who were hired when the Community Hub opened in Carrboro last fall. She is also one of our Food for Families participants. Her family includes her husband, who works in hotel maintenance and is a taxi driver; a 12-year-old son; and a 4-year-old daughter. They moved to north Chapel Hill in the fall of 2023. They are Ukrainian and first sought safety in North Carolina two years ago, staying initially with relatives in Reidsville and Elon. 

As a market assistant, Tonya helps participating families to check out once they have selected their groceries. She also helps pack their food. When market assistants have available time, they can also  help fill the shelves with necessary food and prepare the boxes/bags of food for families who prefer to stop for curbside pick up.  

How would you describe the Hub experience so far? 
People are very satisfied because they can make a choice. When they come with kids, the kids are very happy because the parents allow them to choose their snack. Kids can get a book for free at the children’s area, where they can play for a little bit. It’s very nice of PORCH to be attentive to their clients and to make them happy. The team is very good. Everyone is pleasant and helpful and attentive and polite. The environment is nice and friendly. It’s so nice to see thankful customers with smiles on their faces because they could get necessary foods and save a little bit their money for something else. 

Are you enjoying life in Chapel Hill? 
The weather and the nature are so nice. I like Chapel Hill very much because it looks like a European style of city. It has a lot of parks and grocery stores and different recreation places. The public transportation is very comfortable if you don’t have car. We have an active family. When we have free time and when we are all together, we like to go to play basketball or volleyball with our son. Our daughter likes riding her scooter when it’s summertime. We like to go swimming at the neighborhood pool. And we like to go to different parks. We also like to go to Duke Gardens. It’s a nice place to rest and to relax – to picnic there and play some frisbee. 

It is hard to be away from your home country of Ukraine, especially under such dire circumstances, but do you feel as though you are making a home here? 
In the beginning, it was very hard because of a lot of challenges, all the time. I’m talking about everything – medicine, education, shopping. In the beginning, everything is new for you, and you need to be very flexible and calm to accept new options in your life because everything looks like starting from the very beginning. When you come with just a couple of suitcases and nothing else, you need to find or buy everything. Almost everything. We love our country. We miss our home very much. But for now, it’s not safe there, so that is why we can’t come back.  For the future, we don’t know. Honestly. We’ll see. Firstly, we think about a safe future for our kids. Then about other things. 

What do you like most about working for PORCH? 
I’m so excited when I have a shift. I like to help and work there and meet new people. We don’t have such a practice in our country. We don’t have anything like PORCH. And I was very surprised and very excited when I found out about PORCH, and when I became a part of [the team], I was even more excited because I could share my help and my heart. It’s important to show my kids how we can help those who need it. PORCH is organized very well, and each staff member works hard to satisfy the PORCH families.