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THURSDAY, November 10, 2022
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PRINCEGEORGECITIZEN
LEST WE FORGET Pages 13-18
Residents deliver supplies to Ukraine
City opens arms to refugees
HANNA PETERSEN
Prince George for Ukraine has helped 117 Ukrainian refugees resettle in Prince George, and supported another seven resettling in other northern B.C. communities, with more on the way. The volunteer group formed in March to serve to coordinate local efforts to provide humanitarian aid to people in Ukraine and those fleeing the Russian invasion of the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 7.75 million Ukrainians have fled since Russia invaded in February. “When the war started, there was a lot of groups asking ‘What can we do to help?’” Prince George for Ukraine volunteer Charles Scott said. “When something like this happens, you have 153 people trying to help all at once.” St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Share Home Refugee Sponsorship Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society (IMSS), Prince George Community Foundation, Yalenka Ukrainian Dancers, all levels of local government, Prince George Chamber of Commerce and others came together to help, Scott said.
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Citizen staff
arrived they discovered the airline had lost all 21 bags. The group then had to wait for a day and a half until the luggage showed up before they could make the journey into Ukraine. “We had one of Dave’s connections from Ukraine come out and meet us with a cargo van and we had a driver who knows the routine of getting over the border,” said Cameron. He said crossing into Ukraine they immediately noticed the military presence everywhere. He noticed most of the buildings in the city that had ornate windows were boarded up and all of the windows on the ground floors were sandbagged.
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asked Cameron and Terresa to accompany him on another trip in late September to help. “Landing we make sure it clears customs okay, and from there, wrangle it, transport it, and deliver it to the hospital,” explained Cameron. On Sept. 26, they flew to Edmonton to meet Bryenton, who had 21 bags of supplies to take over, valued at about $200,000 of mostly donated medical supplies including prescriptions, bandages, sutures, anaesthetics, and antibiotics. Their final destination was a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, which is a major city about an hour away from the Polish border. The plan was to fly into Krakow, Poland and then drive across the border into Ukraine, however, when they
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Cameron and Terresa Stolz pose with interns from the hospital in Lviv, Ukraine.
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Local business owner Cameron Stolz and his wife Terresa helped deliver much-needed medical supplies to a hospital in Ukraine this fall. Cameron’s friend of 35 years, Dave Bryenton, who lives in Edmonton, has been taking donations and supplies over to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country this spring. Bryenton’s mother and grandmother are Ukrainian and when the war broke out he immediately reached out to his family in Ukraine to ask what he could do to help and shortly after began gathering donations. He made his first trip to Ukraine back in March and was able to take the supplies, mostly medical and tactical gear, through checked baggage on the airlines. “The more people that go the more luggage we can take over,” explained Terresa. “We actually fly it over in giant hockey bags.” Not only are the bags packed full but Bryenton also needs to be able to physically maneuver them around, so he
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Citizen staff