Illya Kvasha and Family

Hi, my name is Brennan Villemaire. I am the head coach of the Ottawa National Diving Club.

We are excited to announce that former Olympic diver, Illya Kvasha along with his wife Illona, daughter Iliana, and step parents, Elvira and Serhii will be moving to Ottawa, Canada in June 2023. Illya is to become our new head coach and program director.

Flying into Canada as Ukrainian refugees, we are looking to the worldwide diving community and beyond to help us get this family get settled into their new canadian home.

The unimaginable terrors of war have forced them to look abroad for work and to re-establish their lives as a family togther. We are humbled to be able to provide them with a safe haven in Canada and a job to Illya upon arrival.

The funds raised are to help this family of 5 with initial start up costs upon arrival. They will need to find a place to live and to be able to put food on the table. Illya specifically will need to challenge canadian standards for his job as a diving coach and this process comes with costs as well. His job also requires him to keep a home office and have a cell phone. Upon arrival, only Illya will have full time work while the remaining 3 adults will need to look for work. We hope the funds raised here will also act as a buffer to allow them more time to continue to pay rent should this process take long.

This move across the world is already scary enough and we hope that this donation to the family will help show how much our amazing communities are here to support them.

We thank you for your generosity.

Brennan Villemaire and the Ottawa National Diving Club.