The Prince George Community Foundation (PGCF) has created the Ukraine Humanitarian Support Fund to directly support people and families coming to the city.
They are also hosting the “Prince George Live for Ukraine!” event to drum up funds for this cause.
PGCF will match up to $10,000 raised for the support fund.
“We’re really looking forward to the community coming together to really show that sense of spirit that we’ve come to know, and seeing how we can support these people coming to our community from Ukraine at a time where it’s really important,” said PGCF Director of Development Mindy Stroet.
The event is being held on Saturday, May 7th at the Coast Inn at 6 PM.
There will be live entertainment and a silent auction, and more information can be found here.
The Share Hope Refugee Committee will be helping Ukrainians when they come to PG, and Chairperson Eva Gillis said it will take a lot of work and support to help these families.
“This money will go a long ways towards bringing a family here and sustaining them.”
She said the money will go towards finding them homes, and helping them get jobs or education.
In terms of how many families Gillis thinks that we could support, she kept her sights reasonable.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have five? I mean, we want more, 20, but it’s to be realistic, right now we can probably bring two with the monies that we have. So the more it builds, the more families we are going to bring. And I know there are many other groups in Prince George that are also doing the same thing.”
It’s still up in the air when we could see the first families arrive in Prince George, with Gillis noting that was up to the government on when that could happen.
She also mentioned some of the other hurdles that need to be jumped through to make this movement a reality, adding that they have a lawyer drumming up an application form to help prevent scammers.