Preparations underway to welcome Ukrainian refugees to Manitoba

Preparations are taking place across Winnipeg to welcome many families in similar situations coming in from Ukraine.

Long-serving Winnipeg business, Shooters Family Golf Centre and Restaurant, is preparing to welcome a Ukrainian refugee family.

It’s an initiative that manager Amy Cerasani says wouldn’t have been possible without the overwhelming support of their community.

“I don’t believe they’re aware of the magnitude they’re walking into, and the outpour of support from the community,” Cerasani.

Cerasani’s family also owns the North Gate Trailer Park, where a show home sits empty. She says they decided to take to social media, offering up the space to a family fleeing Ukraine.

In a matter of weeks, the house is now fully furnished, thanks to the generosity of Winnipeggers.

“It’s been very emotional,” she says. “From bedding, clothing, dishes, groceries, gift cards, ‘Hey we’ll provide dance lessons or piano lessons,’  our community centre has stepped in, like it’s really just a community effect.”

Soon, the empty house will become home to a Ukrainian mother and her two young children, as her husband and their father stay back to fight in the war zone.

Cupboards are stocked full, even with Ukrainian candies and bathroom cupboards are full of toiletries. Boxes of clothes fill the closets and toys are sitting in awaiting their new owners.