Please help Veronika!

This is Veronika Ivanytska. She is a newcomer to Edmonton, fleeing the war in Ukraine. At 18, the trip to get here was full of firsts: first time traveling out of Ukraine, first time on a plane, first time being away from her family, and first time navigating the world in English.

Veronika is enrolled in Media Studies at the University of Alberta, and is thriving in Edmonton, in spite of the significant challenges she's facing as a displaced Ukrainian student. An incredibly talented writer, Veronika wrote a beautiful blog for WinterCityEdmonton about her first experience with winter in Edmonton.

Unfortunately, her whole experience in Edmonton has not been completely positive. She was recently caught in a sophisticated scam that targeted Ukrainian students at the University. Via email, the scammers impersonated legitimate University of Alberta professors and contacts whom she trusted. These contacts offered her a job, and required her to purchase nearly $4000 worth of Apple gift cards in lieu of equipment she'd need to perform the job, promising her she'd be reimbursed. Now that she's realized it's a scam, Veronika is working with the University to try to prevent other students from falling prey to the same scam.

However, the loss of this money is jeopardizing her ability to pay for her next year's university tuition, and is potentially affecting her opportunity to stay in Canada.

We are trying to help her to recover the funds privately, and to support her education here in Canada. She is a remarkably talented young woman with a very bright future ahead of her, and of course this has been a huge blow to both her and her family, who are still in Kiev and who are very worried about their young daughter being overseas alone.

Your support will help this bright young student to replace the money the scammers stole, so that she can continue her education and build a new life in Canada. Any additional money she raises will go towards her next year's tuition. Your support means more than you will ever know.