Group gathered around a coffee station setup in front of the Lyric Theatre. In January 1957, six refugees from Hungary were brought to Stuart by the Catholic Relief Services.
In 1956, an uprising broke out in Hungary against the Soviet-backed communist government. The USSR responded with violent force, crushing the opposition and prompting many Hungarians to flee the country. James Henry Rand, a wealthy winter resident of Stuart, helped several refugee immigrant families who arrived in January 1957, often in the middle of the night.