A generous spirit creates an extended family

When QCH Volunteer Carole Glaser and her husband watched the news of the war in Ukraine, they were compelled to help. Through the Ukrainian Diaspora Support Canada (UADSC), they committed to hosting 21-year-old Yaryna Yurtsiv, a refugee whose father relocated her to a University dorm in Poland when the war began. Yaryna's parents, sister and boyfriend are still in Western Ukraine; she has no relatives in Canada.

Carole reflects on their meeting: "Yaryna arrived at our front door the exact minute that the power went out during the storm that hit Ottawa on May 20th. You would think she may have brought us bad luck, but on the contrary, we made it through 3.5 days without power or internet and sometimes difficult food preparation. We quickly became family despite only exchanging a few emails and one picture of each other before she arrived. Her basic English is very endearing as she enthusiastically communicates."

The Maidan Market at Westgate provided some free necessities for Yaryna, which are donated to Ukrainian refugees. Yaryna now volunteers there twice a week. She arrived with a 3-year work permit and now has a Canadian S.I.N. and OHIP. A counsellor at the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre is helping to help Yaryna with her resume and finding a job which she searches for daily on her own.