Montrealers are rallying to do what they can for victims of the war in Ukraine, and several collection points have been set up around the city for people to drop off relief supplies.
Collecting donations has kept Polina Belts busy since Tuesday. She says it’s personal.
“All this started with my best friend,” she explained. “She’s Ukrainian and she’s devastated. She has family there.”
That friend is Marta Misko who lives in Ottawa. Misko said she has family in Lviv, close to the Polish border, and that she’s worried.
“My heart is shattered,” she told Global News. “My mind is not comprehending.”
Desperate to do something, she said she reached out to Belts asking her for help collecting relief supplies, who then put out a call on social media.
Belts said the response has been overwhelming.
“The donations – they just keep on coming,” she laughed.
In just a few hours Wednesday, she said, she made ten stops all over Montreal’s West Island.
All the items she collects will be brought to the Saint Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on Iberville Street, just one of the collection points in the city for aid supplies.
For days volunteers have been busy sorting and packaging. Some of the items they’re looking for include clothing, particularly for winter and medical supplies as well as non-perishable foods and personal hygiene products.
“Tomorrow it goes to Toronto … and then it goes to Ukraine,” volunteer Igor Volkov told Global News.
Even the Quebec government is reaching out to help.
On Tuesday the minister of international relations and la Francophonie announced a donation of $300,000 to help people affected by the war.
Residents in Montreal supporting Belts’ donation drive say they’re doing it simply because people need help.
“I think about what would happen if it happened here, and packing up my kids and leaving my home and leaving my family and my job and not knowing what’s going to happen,” Laura Lippert said after giving several bags of supplies to Belts.
Belts says the situation affects her on a whole other level.
“I’m a little bit embarrassed,” she admitted, “because I’m Russian. But it’s the Russian government who’s doing all this so I’m angry at the Russian government.”
She says she hopes the war ends soon, especially for the sake of her best friend, Misko.
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