Newmarket residents opening their doors and hearts to Ukrainians fleeing war

For just over two weeks, Kevin Clare’s house has been home to three young students who have come to Newmarket after fleeing the war in Ukraine. 

Clare has been hosting Andrii Maksymenko, 22, his girlfriend, Yuliia Denysenko, 21, and his friend, Tymur Zakirov, 22. He said he had an empty house and felt like he had to do something to help.

However, he didn’t prepare for the challenges that lay ahead.

“I walked into it not knowing how long the process would be and how frustrating it would be,” Clare said, adding this was one of the first groups of refugees to arrive locally.

The roadblocks began on arrival when he couldn’t go into the terminal at Toronto Pearson International Airport to meet his new guests, and they have continued since. Some of the biggest hurdles have included getting the students set up with OHIP, driver’s licences and SIN cards.

“The line-up was like people were lining up for Rolling Stones tickets,” he said of their visit to Service Canada.

A lot of the delays stem from the fact Ukrainians are arriving in Canada, but Clare said the government hasn’t properly prepared for them to be here.

“Nothing’s in place and the wheels aren’t turning or they’re turning but not fast enough,” he said. “Bottom line is it’s not filtering down fast enough.”

Despite the challenges, Clare said he has made progress, and Maksymenko and the others have been settling in well and have even found employment.

“It’s been a long, long road,” he said, “but it should get better.”

The next and biggest hurdle, according to Clare, is finding long-term housing for the three. The tough part is passing a credit check and coming up with first and last months’ rent. He said they are still trying to find a landlord and a space that will work.

“They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. They want to move on,” he said.

The search continues for housing, and that is their biggest goal right now, but for Clare it will still be bittersweet when they move out.

“They’ve become good friends. I’ll miss them,” he said of his guests.

However, his house won’t be empty for long. Clare is already preparing to welcome another family, this time with children, and said he hopes the process will be easier the second time around.

“We have a total blueprint. We know exactly what to do to be more efficient,” he said.

He has been using that blueprint to help other Newmarket residents who also want to host Ukrainian refugees. One is Kelly Walmsley, one of his friends, who is welcoming a 32-year-old woman and her 59-year-old mother to her home later this week.

The young woman, who is pregnant and due in June, is currently in Lithuania with her mother, but her husband had to stay behind in Ukraine to fight in the war, Walmsley said.

“I can’t imagine your husband going to war and you’re expecting a baby and you have to flee your country. Apparently, they had to leave pretty fast. She said she wasn’t able to get her laptop. They both have one bag each. Their town is completely destroyed,” she said. “It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about that, of what she must be going through.”

The pair is due to arrive on Thursday and will stay with Walmsley and her husband. Like Clare, they had spare rooms in their home and felt like they had to do something to help.

Both Walmsley and Clare have experienced a lot of support for the community, especially when it comes to getting furniture and other items they need for the families they’re hosting. For Walmsley, that has included finding items for the baby, who will likely be born at Southlake Regional Health Centre.

“People want to give us their baby clothes and donate whatever they can. It’s been really great with the community and our families,” she said.

Walmsley encourages other members of the community to consider hosting.

“I hope more people do it. I don’t think there’s enough information out there for where to start,” she said.

She used a website that is designed to help Ukrainians find shelter. The site allows people to filter by what kind of person they are looking to host. A day after posting her ad, she had already connected with the family she will be hosting.

Another Newmarket resident, Jo Carlick, is in the research phase but hopes to host someone from Ukraine soon.

The retired school teacher has a basement bachelor apartment she used to rent out but hasn’t in several years as she didn’t want to be a landlord anymore. Now she wants to provide that space to a Ukrainian in need.

“This unprecedented tragedy, in my opinion, required unprecedented thinking and action, and that’s what got me going,” Carlick said.

Her space needs some work and furnishing before she can have people move in, but in the meantime she has been doing a lot of research. Through that she has spoken with the Jewish Family and Child Service in Toronto and learned about its welcome circles.

“They create this welcome circle of people with expertise so not everybody’s doing everything, and then they reach out and surround themselves around a refugee or family and each one carries out their area of expertise,” Carlick said.

As part of her process, she hopes to connect with others who are hosting and fellow community members to create that kind of system here.

“What I’m trying to do is develop my circle in York Region,” she said. “Many hands make light work.”