Roberta Troilo and Olena Naumova’s friendship started six years ago.

Naumova moved to New York eight years ago from Ukraine. Troilo is a volunteer conversation partner at the International Center at Catholic Charities Community Services. Troilo was Naumova’s conversation partner at the time.

Now they continue meeting — just because.

“We’re so different, you know, and we try to find out about each other as much we can,” Troilo said.

In another life, Troilo’s work in client relationships and fashion took her all over the world. She started volunteering with the Catholic Charities Community Services immigration department in 2017.

“I was always fascinated by other cultures,” Troilo said. “When this opportunity came along, I was just dumbfounded that there was such a thing, you know, that I could actually meet with people and get to know them on a personal level.”

Troilo spends an hour a week helping newcomers and not-so-newcomers practice their English and feel at home in New York.

“I feel very, very comfortable talking in English because we are friends,” Naumova said.

“She was really interested in what they’re doing in their life, what they’re struggling with, you know, understanding their situation, supporting them emotionally,” Elaine Roberts, the director of the International Center at Catholic Charities Community Services, said.

Troilo helps immigrants prepare for their grueling citizenship exams.

“The fact that I’ve been some small part of their becoming, helping them to become citizens, and it makes me so much more appreciative of the fact that I’m a citizen, that I was born a citizen of the United States,” she said.

In the process, Troilo is having an impact on the lives of new Americans and forging lifelong relationships.

“She’s my best friend now,” Naumova said.

“I have fun with you too,” Troilo told Naumova. “That’s why we were together for so long, like an old married couple.”

For helping immigrants acclimate to life in their new home, Roberta Troilo is our New Yorker of the Week.