‘It was really emotional’: Calgary host family encourages more people to offer places to those fleeing war
Global News
Dozens of people fleeing the war in Ukraine were at a Calgary church on Saturday getting help and getting accustomed to their new home.
Dozens of people fleeing the war in Ukraine were at a Calgary church on Saturday getting help and meeting new friends.
Kate Podolska arrived in Calgary from Ukraine Friday night, alone with only her suitcase. She doesn’t know anyone in Calgary and she’s staying with a person she’s never met before.
“I’m confused. I don’t know anybody here and I don’t have family, but I met a lot of good people here,” said Podolska, who left her job at a University in Kharkiv. Her husband remains in Poland, trying to get his papers to come to Canada.
Podolska said it’s a relief to escape Kharkiv, where she had been seeking shelter in a metro station for several weeks.
On Saturday she was at St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox church picking up donated items and getting accustomed to her new life in Calgary.
“It’s a great relief because you meet people and you talk in your native language and some basic things that you can get here because, of course, you cannot take much with you,” Podolska said.
This is the second weekend the Centre for Newcomers has been at St. Vladimir’s church offering help to recent arrivals from Ukraine.
Staff with Centre for Newcomers said donated household items are needed as well as places to stay.