Rev Elaine Kellogg
Grace United Church
Special to the Beaver
On April 9, a crowd of Napanee community residents gathered in Grace United Church to hear first hand from one of the millions of refugees who have fled Ukraine in recent weeks.
Valentina Fillippenko, up until a few weeks ago, was a resident of Ukraine. Speaking through interpreter Maria Stebelsky, she explained how she fled to Canada.
When the Russians invaded her country, she stayed in her home for a short while. She explained that she lived in a nine story apartment building, without a working elevator. In 2014, when Russians invaded Donbas, she had worked at cleaning up the 300 meter basement of the building so it could be used as a bomb shelter. In February 2022, that basement bomb shelter was used every time the air raid siren sounded that an attack was imminent; everyone in the building would flee to the basement of the apartment building to wait in the bomb shelter. Because the air raid siren sounded so often, as much as every half hour, the senior citizens and families with children just stayed living in the bomb shelter, because going up and down the nine flights of stairs was too much for them.
At the urging of friends and family who live in Canada, she decided she needed to leave her country for her own safety. So she joined with thousands of Ukrainian citizens to try to get on one of the trains travelling westward to Poland. She explained that there were far more people standing in line to board a train (thousands of frantic people) than there was room for. Most refugees had very little with them. Some were caring for elderly members of their family, some were carrying small children. All were frightened and desperate.
They crammed as many people as possible into the train that Valentina took. In the train compartment designed for four people, nine people settled in for a long, uncomfortable ride. Many children were put to bed to sleep in the narrow hallway between the compartments. The journey that normally would have taken a few hours stretched into a 30 hour ride. They had no food or drink with them. Valentina said that no one in her compartment slept for the whole 30 hours, because they were so tense.
When they finally arrived in Poland, they were met by a welcoming committee of citizens who very quickly made sure they were fed and looked after. Within a short time, Valentina had made her way to Canada, where she is staying with family.
The audience who listened to this story responded with great generosity. Over $8,000 was raised in one afternoon. The donations were channeled through the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services. The next morning, April 10, Valentina and Maria made a similar presentation at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. As a result, $14,656.00 is going to help Ukrainian refugees in desperate need.
Valentin Fillippenko was able to come to our community and make this presentation because of her connection to Maria Stebelsky, a Napanee resident.
Maria began her presentation by playing a beautiful musical rendition of “Prayer for Ukraine,” followed by a brief video history of Ukraine. She talked about her long time work in supporting people in need in Ukraine.
In 1989, Maria was invited to lecture at the International Management Institute in Kyiv as a Negotiation Trainer. The Ukrainian World Congress asked her to set up the Ukrainian Social Services as an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), through which aid could be channeled. The Ukrainian Social Services were able to create 70 branches all over Ukraine.
In 1998, as president of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services, Maria initiated The Charitable Food Partnership with their Ukrainian organization. Initially they had 36 projects; currently there are 12. Donations are channeled through their bank account, for which they are accountable in monthly reports.
For the fund raising events on April 9 and 10, donations will be sent to branches in Ukraine that are currently aiding internal refugees, that is, refugees who have had to flee their homes, but are still inside their country.
Valentina Fillippenko was the president of the Zapoizza Branch where Mariupol residents are being received. Some of the funds will be sent there, and some will be channeled to Sachnowshchyna near Dnipro, which is also inundated with Kharkiv refugees, and perhaps some funds will go to the project in Chernyhiv, if that is possible, since that city is under siege.
Following the formal presentation, people were able to make their donation, enjoy refreshments provided by members of Grace United Church, and browse tables which were selling small items, with all proceeds going to Ukrainian Canadian Social Services. Grace United Church has small packets of sunflower seeds for planting; if any members of the public would like some, please contact the church at graceuchurch@gmail.com.
Valentina, Maria and the organizers of the event are very grateful for the support which has been given by the community, in aid of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in desperate need.