Ukrainian Refugee Families NEED YOUR HELP!

Hello, my name is Tiffany Frame, and I am one of the many individuals in Windsor, Ontario, involved in bringing over a family of 11 from Ukraine in April 2022. As we all have seen, the situation in Ukraine is not improving, and many people have walked away from the only homes they have ever known, unsure if they will ever be able to return. Included in this group are Leonid, Valentyna, Sergii, Oleksandra, Kostiantyn, Kateryna, Antonina, Oleksii, Vira, Dmytro and Miia.

 

Leonid & Valentyna are in their 70s and lived in Sumy, Ukraine. They went on a week-long vacation to their son's home in Kyiv when the war began. Within days of their departure, the Sumy region was attacked by Russian troops. They had no choice but to escape together with their son, Sergii’s family, toward the western part of Ukraine and then to Bucharest, Romania.

 

Sergii stayed behind in Ukraine to work remotely so his family and parents would have some financial support. He is a Technology Director and Chief Operations Officer in a start-up project. His family - wife Oleksandra, son Kostiantyn (6 years old) and daughter Kateryna (2.5 years old) are currently safe in Bucharest, Romania with Leonid & Valentyna.

 

Sergii's aunt, Antonina and cousin Aleksii's family, lived in Irpen - Kyiv region. This area was severely destroyed; some areas were razed to the ground by Russian missiles. They managed to survive and escape from their city with Oleksii's wife, Vira and two children - Dmytro (5.5 years old) and Miia (6 months old). A friend in Sweden has given temporary accommodation to the women and children while Aleksii is still in Ukraine.

 

As I type this, I am getting emotional. As a mother, I could not imagine going through something like this with your small children, but as a human being seeing my fellow man be treated so inhumanely is heartbreaking.

 

Thanks to Mary Lambros, we have housing accommodations for this family to remain together. Mary is the reason why all of this got started. Mary watched CNN when she saw two young men from Harvard telling the public about their site UkraineTakeShelter.com. This site is an independent platform helping to connect Ukrainian refugees with potential hosts and housing. Mary posted her home, and days later, she was contacted by Nataliya Kashchenko.

 

Nataliya has been living in Canada since 2019 with her husband, Julian. Julian is a Canadian citizen, Ukrainian by origin, living in Canada for 30 years. Nataliya is Leonid & Valentyna's daughter and has been worried sick, hoping that her immediate and extended family will make it safely to Canada.  Nataliya's English is impeccable, and she will be in Windsor with them to translate and guide them through this difficult time.

 

Nataliya, Mary and I have been working tirelessly, planning for the family's arrival, but there are some things we cannot do. We need help from our community.

 

Flights are booked, and half of the family is set to arrive on April 15 in Toronto. However, once they are here in Canada, they start from scratch. We are grateful that Canada has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees, but nothing is clear about what assistance they will receive once they arrive. We are doing this Go Fund Me to raise living expenses for all family members - food, toiletries, diapers, formula, travel, clothing, etc.

 

We are also in the initial stages of planning a clothing drive for all family members. When the time comes, we will be sure everyone here knows sizes and specifics to what the children and adults need and where donations can be delivered - we are talking good quality, non-stained, smoke and pet free clothing and essentials.

 

Our overall goal is to make these people feel human again. Their humanity is being stripped from them, and we would only hope the same would be done for us. Should we ever be in a situation where we need to be given shelter and daily essentials, we could only hope to be treated with kindness and love. From what we have already seen, our community is ready and willing to help, and we could not be more proud to be a part of it.

 

Thank you in advance to everyone that takes a moment to read this and donate.