Canadian Natural donates $15K to get Ukrainian families winter clothing

New Ukrainian families who have left the war conditions in their homes and arrived in the Lakeland area will be able to stay warm with winter clothing, thanks to a donation from a large oilfield company.

On Tuesday, Canadian Natural presented a $15,000 cheque to the St. Elias Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Action for Healthy Communities, who have spearheaded the efforts in assisting new Ukrainian families get settled in the communities.

Since April, the Bonnyville FCSS, Action for Healthy Communities, and the St. Elias Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been working on this project with fundraisers at Vyshyvanka Day, a church garage sale, and now this donation. 

“We looked at what amount of money would help with toques, scarves, coats, snow pants, and boots for the adults and the children,” said Genia Leskiw. “So we came up with an amount and we started distributing. We pretty well covered Cold Lake (14 people). We have two families in Bonnyville (five people). We have two families in St. Paul (three people). And we have two families in Elk Point, one of the families in Elk Point is a mom and dad and five kids (10 people total in Elk Point). So the need was there.” 

Leskiw and Kim Foisy, stakeholder relations advisor at Canadian Natural, had been in touch about helping out these Ukrainian families, which represents 32 people total who have arrived in recent months.

As Leskiw said, CNRL called her and asked whether could they use $15,000. Leskiw emphatically said, yes.

“This was an initiative that Genia brought forward to our organization. And we felt that helping the families that have come to our community, with winter wear and with living costs and needs as they arose, would be very helpful and help them to invite them into our community and help them to feel a part of the community,” Foisy told Lakeland Connect. 

“These sorts of projects are exactly what we would like to do to help to make sure that people in the community have what they need, and to help them understand that Canadian Natural Resources is involved in the community, and we have a place here to help out with our residents.” 

The urge to assist the Ukrainian newcomers has also come from municipal government. The City of Cold Lake set aside $15,000 in funds in late October for the Cold Lake FCSS to administer money to help with taxiing costs for grocery store trips or recreation at the Energy Center.

“Personally, you see the destruction and the war on TV and it’s half a world away. It hits home when you’re hosting people that are immigrants or are refugees and all the sudden it becomes real,” said Canadian Natural surface landman Doug Zarowny. “I think there’s a lot of us that have this heritage and I think it’s just a way for us to help out in some way. I hope we can do more yet.”