'Together we are stronger': Montrealers step up for Ukraine

From a church basement to a pastry shop, efforts are multiplying to help those on the front lines — and others on their way here.

Publishing date:

Mar 24, 2022 • 14 minutes ago • 4 minute read • Join the conversation

“We want to save lives,” says Rev. Ihor Oshchipko of the Ukrainian Catholic Parish of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary in Rosemont. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

Standing in a church basement amid piles of donations for displaced families who will soon arrive in Montreal, Rev. Ihor Oshchipko explained his last name serves as a reminder of who Ukrainians are.

“It means a piece of bread that you just crack and give to somebody,” he said Tuesday from the Ukrainian Catholic Parish of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary in Rosemont. “We’re a good people who work, for example, as farmers, and we want to share our goods with others.

“But if somebody will come and destroy my house, we will protect.”

As a priest, Oshchipko said it’s not his place to comment on the politics of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which has forced millions to flee the country over the past month — but he admitted he didn’t see it coming.

“We thought that Russia will threaten us with 200,000 soldiers around Ukraine, with all this military machine stuff, but nobody was expecting the war on a full grade as this one,” he said. “So this is shocking. And what we do, we want to save lives.”

A volunteer sorts through donations in the basement of the Ukrainian Catholic Parish of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary in Rosemont. Medical supplies are sent to Ukraine, while other items are held for refugees arriving here. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

In preparation for the arrival of refugee families, the basement of the church has been transformed into a temporary warehouse of sorts. Volunteers have shown up daily to sort through a steady stream of donations — clothing, medicine, dry food and household goods.

It’s not yet clear how many Ukrainians will arrive in Montreal, but the church suspects it will be able to help them all in some way.

“It’s a two-fold system — we have everything that’s sent to Ukraine, which is all medical and everything to do with the army or the sleeping bags or anything that’s needed right away on the forefront in Ukraine,” said Wolodymyr Klisko, a co -organizer at the church. “The second tier is everything for when the refugees are going to be here.”

Saturdays are the busiest. That’s when most people help, including a group that claims a corner of the basement to make pierogis and cabbage rolls by the thousands, both to feed volunteers and raise funds.

“Everybody tries to find as much time … as they can,” Klisko said. “And people give with their hearts. Sometimes there’s a language barrier here, but they speak with the heart and with the eyes.”

One of the volunteers at the church this week was Audrey Silva, who lives across the street.

“I work from home so when I know that I have a little bit of time — like today I have just an hour — I do whatever I can to help out,” she said.

The efforts at the church are among many undertaken in Montreal lately either to show solidarity with Ukraine, send funds overseas or prepare for the arrival of families.

At Alice & Theo, a bakery and ice cream shop in Verdun, Ukrainian owners Andriy Tsoy and Hanna Bespoiasko have been raising funds by selling pastries stuffed with blue and yellow cream — an idea their Russian business partner came up with.

The shop has managed to raise about $4,000 so far, which is being sent to Ukraine to purchase supplies for the battalion Bespoiasko’s 29-year-old brother is in.

“We spoke with him and he said they hear in the army that Ukraine gets grants, they get money, they get help, but they as soldiers, they don’t see a lot of it,” said Tsoy. “They’re still missing day-to-day food rations, this and that. In the beginning it was better.”

Donations of all sorts are being collected at the Ukrainian Catholic Parish of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary in Rosemont. Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette

The pair said the response to their fundraiser has been overwhelmingly positive, with people showing up just to donate after word got out.

“It’s amazing how human people are, because initially our belief in humanity sort of went down when the whole war started,” Tsoy said. “Now I think we got emotionally numb, because we talk to them every day and in Ukraine they’re more positive than us … they’re like: ‘Listen, don’t be afraid about us; we’re OK, we’re alive.’

“And unfortunately that’s the joke of the day. We’ll call them and they’re like: ‘We’re still alive.’ Before it would be just a joke. Now it’s a part of their reality.”

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At the church, preparations are underway to ensure that distribution areas for families will offer a comfortable, dignified experience.

“That’s very important, because we want them to feel just like they’d be walking — in their home country — into a store, and not feel like anything’s different,” Klisko said.

He attributed the ability to create such an environment to a diverse group of volunteers with knowledge in areas such as retail and logistics, and some who’ve worked in women’s shelters for years.

“Like they say in Ukrainian,” he said. “Together we are stronger, and together we are more.”

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