Echo Bay woman says generosity is off the charts as she prepares for Ukrainian mother and daughter

As an Echo Bay woman prepares to host a Ukrainian mother and daughter she is one of a number of Canadians using social media to find homes for the families who are fleeing.

Ukrainians coming to Canada to avoid the conflict in that country are considered to be emergency travellers, not a part of the traditional refugee stream. That means they don’t receive the same government supports that come along with being refugees.

Heather Clouston-Goslow is expecting a Ukrainian mother and daughter to arrive soon to stay with her in her Echo Bay home. 

Olga Dovbysh is 48 and her daughter Polina will be 17 in August. The family's husband is staying behind to fight the Russian invasion of their country. Reached by Facebook Messenger, Olga agreed to have their photograph and names shared.

Clouston-Goslow found the family through a Facebook Page called Canada Hosts Ukrainians, which currently has 44,000 members. The group matches Ukrainians looking for shelter with Canadians who have space to offer.

“I talk to them pretty much every day on the phone through Facebook Messenger. They are just waiting for their visas now,” said Clouston-Goslow. “She told me some horrific stories — I could puke. Just the bombs and how they had to flee. Luckily they got away.”

Olga and Paulina are currently in Amsterdam but could be in Canada in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Clouston-Goslow has been preparing her home for the pair’s arrival.

She reached out to some local organizations she thought would help but said she was turned away or the calls went unanswered. That is when she once again turned to a Facebook group to appeal for everything from furniture to clean towels and new pillows for the family.

“It’s just frustrating but some friends suggested I put it out on the Sault Ste. Marie Helping Hands web site,” said Clouston-Goslow. “The generosity in this city is crazy.”

Although she has had offers, Clouston-Goslow said there is one thing she is not currently collecting — money.

“People are telling me to start a GoFundMe but I don’t want to have to deal with money. If they get here and they want to give them money, that’s fine, but for me personally,  don’t want to have to deal with that,” she said.

The Canada Hosts Ukrainians group on Facebook was created on March 24 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said moderator Karyna Alyeksyeyeva.

“Since then, it has grown to become the largest online community for Ukrainians and Canadian hosts to match,” said Alyeksyeyeva, who currently lives in Montreal.

“Our initial intent was to provide a list of interested hosts to the government. We collected more than 4000 entries and such massive interest from hosts made it difficult for the government or local organizations to process this list manually,” she said. “Our group admins decided to continue with our mission to help Ukrainians relocate to Canada as quickly and smoothly as possible.”

Alyeksyeyeva said every post on the page is vetted by an administrator and the group has published a safety guide for everyone to follow.