It was a chance to celebrate a milestone on Sunday, July 3, 2022.
It’s been three months since the first families arrived from Ukraine as part of the group Northumberland for Ukraine.
Catalyst for the group was Port Hope resident Olena Hankivsky who said Sunday was about bringing together approximately 100 refugees from Ukraine along with host families and people who have volunteered to help with the group.
“We’re not all the way there yet,” said Hankivsky.
There are still three families expected to arrive from Ukraine.
“We thought it was really important to all come together and to mark the moment and really to show the strength of this community and what it can achieve when it gets behind a cause.”
With mostly everyone arriving from Ukraine that had been planned Hankivsky said it’s about getting them settled.
“It’s just a matter of getting everyone settled, giving them a soft landing. Making sure that we go step by step helping through the process of integration, getting the kids into summer activities, getting parents into English classes and helping people find jobs.
For Hankivsky, Sunday was a emotional day seeing all the families together after working so hard.
“It’s been a lot of work, a lot of effort from the community and I’m so proud of all the people that have come together and very proud to be part of Northumberland County.”
Mira Knott was born and raised in Ukraine, but has lived in Colborne since being married in 2017.
She’s worked tirelessly bringing eight members of her family (siblings, parents) to Canada and was at the event in Port Hope on Sunday with members of her family.
Knott said the entire family is extremely grateful to Canadians for all they’ve done.
“It’s not why they wanted to come to Canada. They miss home and there is still lots of bad things happening there. Even though it’s very good how much Canadians have opened up. It’s welcoming and safe, but it’s really hard for them just knowing it’s really bad back home.”
Marilyn Bloomer from Port Hope and her husband have been a host family for a mother and her three daughters from Ukraine for the past two weeks.
“It’s a lovely family.”
“We took them down for fireworks the other night and they said it’s the best they’ve ever seen.”
Bloomer has no ties to the Ukraine, but they saw what was happening on the news and felt compelled to act.
“Everything happening over there is heart breaking.”
Bloomer has done slight renovations to their home, but they get along fine and are great to have.
Thirty-six-year-old Semion Kremeniuk and his family including his wife, four children and dog have been in Canada just over two months.
The family lived in the Kyiv and Kremeniuk remembers waking up to explosions behind his window.
They stayed the entire day, and the bombs weren’t going off that often, but the next day when the bombs were happening as frequently as every five or 10 minutes and sounded like it was getting closer to them – they decided to leave.
“Never in my life (would I have) thought of something like that happening in 2022. Never in my life have I thought of changing countries or even changing continents where I live. It’s all be crazy for my family.”
Kremeniuk said he knew Canadians were amazing people, but had no idea how well they would be treated.
“We knew in advance that Canadians are nice people and it’s a good Country to live. But it’s way better than we expected. People are really nice, really supportive.”
“Most of the time our family feel so awkward receiving all the support.”
“Not just saying something, they are doing something for all Ukrainians who are here – it’s amazing.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
