It’s been an emotional few days for Cassandra Taylor and her mother Stefanie Czornyj.
The Sarnia residents have about 20 Ukrainian family members that they haven’t heard from since Russian forces invaded their country last week.
“It breaks my heart,” Czornyj said Sunday afternoon during a vigil outside St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic church.
They pray the collection of mostly cousins was able to flee their tiny farming village in eastern Ukraine and gain entry into Poland, but so far they haven’t been able to confirm this.
“We are hoping that we can try and track them,” said Taylor, a Sarnia family doctor who helped spearhead the vigil outside the Rosedale Avenue church called Pray for Ukraine.
The goal is to bring them to Canada if possible, she said.
“Get ’em here and then we’ll take care of the rest of it once they get here,” she said.
At the event, which drew a large crowd, Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey said he spoke with Premier Doug Ford about the issue this past Friday.
“If people want to resettle, the Ukrainian community wants to resettle here in Ontario, we’re going to do everything we can to resettle them,” he said.
Bailey also said he’s had calls to his office from people willing to billet families while labor and union officials have offered jobs.
“As Cassandra said, Sarnia-Lambton is a very welcoming community as is the province,” he said. “God bless the people of Ukraine and let’s hope that this end sooner than later.”
The church is planning a fundraiser to help displaced Ukrainians called Pysanky and Perogies. Visit the Facebook page bit.ly/3voGGD8 or the church’s website stgeorgessarnia.ca for more information.