Many people know them for their “Dream Home Lottery” draw but the Kinsmen Club of Kingston, Ont., is much more than that. The local organization that serves the community is now serving a larger community, one that includes displaced Ukrainians.
“As a club, we voted and passed to have six of our rental units in our apartment buildings set aside for Ukrainian families who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine,” said Bryan McDonald a Kinsmen Club of Kingston member.
Crews are currently working to get one of the units ready for its new tenants. Part of the plan is to ensure that when the Ukrainian families arrive all they have to worry about is settling into their new community.
“The Kinsmen will be covering the rent in the apartments for one year, complete, everything,” said McDonald. “The tenants are responsible for their own internet and entertainment and stuff like that.”
St. Vincent de Paul Society of Kingston is partnering with the Kinsmen to help with donations for Ukrainian refugees.
“I have a sense that people will really want to get involved in this, but we also have very limited space at St. Vincent so what we’re in the works of doing is we’ll post a list of the items that we need once we get a chance to connect a little bit more with the families as they come in,” said Judy Fife, St. Vincent de Paul Society of Kingston executive director.
Providing accommodation is nothing new for the Kingston Kinsmen. The organization has provided similar help for Syrian refugee families.
“Six, seven years ago when we started seeing Syrian families coming into the Kingston area we did the exact same program,” said McDonald. “We still have three Syrian families living with us, and it’s just great. They’re such a big part of our community here.”