Tai Shaw came to the U.S. in the early 1980s, and built a life in the Syracuse area. The owner of a successful refugee-run business, he spends much of his time working to help fellow refugees succeed.

Shaw, the owner of CNY Uniforms Plus in Syracuse, combines his business and activism to impact the community in positive ways.

“I love this,” Shaw said, while working on a New York State University Police uniform. “It is part of what I do every day, embroidering and screen printing. I sell a lot of uniforms.”

They make T-shirts and uniforms for everyone from the University Police to nurses at area hospitals.

“It’s a very, very unique process,” Shaw said as he showed off a new piece of equipment that resembles a large printer, but for T-shirts. “It prints the whole thing right on the shirt.”

Shaw was born in Vietnam, and was recently named superintendent of the Asian Village at the New York State Fair. He also represents the Vietnamese Community of Syracuse. A photo of the group is proudly displayed among other community causes that Shaw is a part of, as well as community accolades.

“I’m excited, I have a committee going,” he said as he walked past a bulletin board with plans for the fair.

A father of two, he came to the U.S. from Thailand.

“I escaped from Vietnam to Thailand as a refugee. They called 'the Boat People,'" he said. “I came to America in 1982 and the Shaws adopted me.”

He is now also a community activist for the refugee community.

“I see them, I understand them, I know what they’re going through,” he said. “I’m sympathetic, 'cause I’ve been there and I’ve done it, and I know the needs. Food insecurity, that’s the number one thing.”

In the back of the store is where Shaw hosts a food pantry for the community — and primarily refugees.

“We have canned food here. Some communities, you can, some don’t use cans. Then we have juice, snacks. We kind of give a variety for everybody,” he said.

Shaw said the discrepancy between migrants and refugees is complicated.

“People who come through the right channels properly deserve to be here,” he said. “I know for migrants, it’s tougher on them because they’re facing all kinds of obstacles than us refugees.”

He said he plans to do all that he can to help the refugees succeed, just like him.

“A lot of them are making minimum wage,” he said. “I know that food stamps run out, especially the third week of the month. We can’t feed them the whole week long, but if we can take away a couple days and ease the missing ingredient.”

The food pantry, or the CNY Blessing Box, is open Sundays. Learn more on its Facebook page.