Ukrainian refugee finds work at Stony Mountain café

Though she doesn’t speak a word of English, Alla Salnykov is happy to find a job in Stony Mountain.

Salnykov said she fled Ukraine to stay with her son. “There were sirens, explosions, and scary things happening,” she said with the help of a translation app.

For the past two weeks, she has been working at Colton’s Café and Pizzeria.

“I came in one day and she had her résumé under the door, so we phoned her right away,” says owner Jason Santangelo.

“I had started her off doing a few hours a day here and there, but we’ve got her doing almost full time now.”

While she started out cleaning, Salnykov has since started doing a little bit of everything. “She’s even taken it upon herself to start serving tables now and whatnot when she sees they’re busy,” Santangelo said. “The only thing we have a problem with is we can’t get her to take a break.”

“She’s obviously had a hard time, having to come here, and she’s not here willingly, I guess you could say,” he adds. “But we’re doing whatever we can to ease her mind a little bit.”

Salnykov is grateful to have the support of her coworkers and the community. “Thanks to all the people,” she said. “They are very helpful with the phone calls and gestures, and the translator app.”