Some Ukrainian newcomers in Manitoba turning to food banks as food prices soar – Winnipeg | 24CA News
At Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral on McGregor Street, Pastor Ihor Shlev is getting ready for Sunday’s Orthodox Easter breakfast – a standard Ukrainian meal that may serve members of the congregation, nearly all of that are Ukrainian refugees.
“It’s almost full,” he stated. “We have more than 160 people.”
On high of offering a chance for newcomers to attach, Shlev is aware of the meal fills one other want in his group – the necessity for reasonably priced meals. Sunday’s breakfast is freed from cost, offering some aid to these simply beginning out in Manitoba.
Harvest Manitoba advised 680 CJOB that round 650 of their new shoppers this March have been Ukrainian refugees. Manitoba has acquired at the very least 20,000 Ukrainian refugees since Russia invaded in February 2022, and the province has processed greater than 17,200 well being playing cards.
Two of these newcomers are Oleksandr and Halyna Sirak, a retired couple who arrived in September 2022 from Odesa. The meals financial institution was a lifeline for them after they first arrived.
“Health-wise, we aren’t able to work, so we are very grateful that we are able to use the food bank,” Halyna advised Global News via a translator.
Read extra:
A 12 months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has Canada finished sufficient to assist?
The federal authorities’s Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) permits newcomers to use for a one-time cost of $3,000 per grownup and $1,500 per baby to assist pay for necessities upon arrival.
But as meals costs proceed to rise, Shlev says many Ukrainian newcomers he meets want to show to meals banks for assist.
“People are trying to get any help that they can, and food is basic,” he stated.
Shlev stated many newcomers in his group wrestle to search out gainful employment on account of language boundaries.
“Even if you received some support from the government, even if you have some savings, you are still afraid. What will happen in one month if I will not find a job? And a lot of people are coming with those fears,” he stated.
Shlev says congregation members collect within the parish corridor after service on Sundays for tea and cookies, with church members bringing baking and meals to share. The Siraks say their group is keen to assist out as soon as they’ve landed on their ft, and that discovering a job is the important thing.
“We also notice that a lot of people that were here previously no longer come because they have gotten work,” Oleksandr stated of the meals financial institution via a translator.
Shlev hopes to start out a small meals financial institution on the church to fulfill the necessity of his rising congregation – it’s 5 occasions the scale it was only a 12 months in the past, and practically all the brand new members are Ukrainian refugees. He hopes Sunday’s meal presents some hope and assist for the group.
“It’s not just about the food,” he stated. “Food is important, but being together, having somebody next to you, talking to someone is really something that means a lot.”
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