A Vancouver Island woman is helping raise funds for Ukrainian refugees after seeing the effects of war firsthand.
Lyudmyla (Lucy) Kryachok was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is a mechanical engineer in Victoria. When war broke out in Ukraine, she immediately flew to Poland to help her family. However, she ended up helping more families than just her own and stayed longer than anticipated, thanks to the Hope Foundation.
“I went over for my family, including my two cousins that I grew up with, that were in Kyiv,” Kryachok said. “At the start of the war, they fled 40 kilometres east of Kyiv because we had a cellar there where they could hide as no one really knew what was going on. So they thought, you know, go over there, hide, and hopefully it passes.”
About a week later, Kryachok went to get her family and help them cross the border into Poland with the hope of eventually getting them to Canada. Although she initially planned to stay for only a few weeks to help with visa applications, the scenes that she witnessed caused her to stay longer and help.
“Everything was pretty terrifying,” she said. “When I got to the border in Poland, Medyka, it was really tough to see all the other families because a lot of them were like mine except we didn’t have any family or friends in Poland.”
Kryachok’s family and other Ukrainians crossing the border were scared, as they did not speak the language and many had no money at all.
“We were going to a shelter that was 10 km from the Medyka border, and I was helping them as I was waiting for my family to cross, which took about eight hours. I was helping women and their children carry bags and find some food.”
After getting her family settled in and while awaiting visa applications, Kryachok went back to the Medyka border to volunteer and help more families cross over. As one of the few people who could speak both Ukrainian and English, she helped with translation at the humanitarian aid shelter.
When Kryachok was volunteering at the shelter, she met a man named Jacek who started the Hope Foundation.
“They were delivering humanitarian aid into Ukraine at the very start of the war and it was hard to deliver a lot of aid without being a foundation because you’re crossing the border a lot,” she explained. “So, he and his friends started the Hope Foundation and registered it in Poland around February or March in 2022 at the start of the war.”
After seeing the effects of war unfold before her own eyes, Kryachok decided to stay in Poland with the foundation to help refugee families. She remained the full three months until she had to come back to Canada, but soon returned to Ukraine. She helped with translation and with coordination of transportation, helping families get to the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria and other countries around the borders.
“We tried to get families there settled and helped with clothing, food, medicine and anything they needed,” Kryachok continued. “We tried to find them more permanent accommodation in other parts of Europe because Poland is quite overwhelmed.”
With no income while she was in Ukraine, Kryachok eventually had no choice but to return to Canada. However, she continued to help the foundation by raising funds.
“I continued to work to spend more money for the Hope Foundation, for the aid delivery, and in October they started the Hope Shelter,” she said. “That was really important to me as all the shelters in Poland were closing down and now the Hope Foundation has the largest shelter at the busiest border in Medyka between Poland and Ukraine.”
The Hope Foundation is 100 per cent non-profit, with every dollar donated going towards helping families in need. Most of the volunteers, including Kryachok, use their own personal salaries to help. She is also hoping to register the foundation as a charity in Canada, but admits that it is a lengthy process. More help is needed to stay open and continue the work even after the war ends to help clean and rebuild Ukraine.
To donate or learn more, please visit the Hope Foundation website hope4ua.com and Kryachok’s GoFundMe page (gofundme.com/f/2teqyu-help-ukrainian-families).
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