The joy of having your family safe!

When we hear saying “there are no guarantees in life”, generally, the war horrors do not come to mind.

Mine started when I woke up on February 24th, 2022 and read a message from my mother that the city where my sister lives with her family was surrounded by the Russian army and is being bombed. With my heart racing, I dialed my sister’s number and saw a grim, pale face. When I asked if this was true, she said “yes”, and her voice broke. I’d tried to ask more questions, as I couldn’t believe this was the reality, but they’d heard another airstrike siren and had to rush back to the basement for cover.

The horror of the war is still happening in Ukraine, but the heavy weight was lifted from my heart when my sister Maria with her husband Sergey and 2 kids Veronica (10 y.o.) and Sasha (4 y.o.) finally escaped Kharkiv city and fled to Europe. It’s been 2 months since, and now with visa’s in passports and plane tickets on hand, their journey is on its last final, and we expect to greet them in Canada on September 1st.

I can’t express the joy my heart feels to finally see them safe and sound. And with such joy, my husband and I have to think of practicalities of hosting a family.

I've created this GoFundMe page to help my sister Maria and her family to settle and start a new life.

The first thing they would need is to put their kids to school. Sasha will go to JK and Veronica to grade 6. Fleeing home, they were not able to pack a lot of clothes and with kids growing and winter coming, we would need to buy something to wear to school and some warm jackets when the weather changed.

Another big obstacle is the language barrier. Maria and Sergey would need to take language classes for the first period and that means no work or financial income from the start. So basic coverage for food, TTC fare payments and other day-to-day expenses is needed.

My husband and I will be hosting them in our apartment for now, but we would need to get an additional fold-out couch or a bed for them to sleep on, as we only have 2 bedrooms with 2 beds for 6 people now.

We started this fundraising campaign with the thought that any help is a big help, so no donation is too small, even $5 would make a difference. Covering basic needs will give this family a piece of mind while taking their first steps on the new land.

We really appreciate any help from everyone.