Truck full of supplies from Sudbury headed for Ukrainians in Poland

It was an emotional moment for many inside the Ukrainian National Federation(UNF) Hall as members of Sudbury's Ukrainian community packed a van full of medical and military supplies, bound for their motherland.

Donations have been coming from across the region for Ukraine since the invasion began more than two weeks ago.

Volunteers gathered at the UNF hall to sort through it and send most of it down to Hamilton, so it can be shipped over to Poland from there.

"We got the U-Haul truck for free and we're very grateful to people," said Luba Bozhyk, one of the organizers. "Thank you very much to the people from our town (Sudbury) who helped us put together all of these packages, to help our friends and family back home in Ukraine."

"It's just emotional for us as Ukrainians, that people gather around community and helping as much as they can from donations, money donations, supplies and humanitarian aid," said another organizer Marika Babiak.

One by one, volunteers trudged up the stairs of the Frood Road hall to see what they could carry down to the van below.

Some of the boxes were heavier than others, but the one thing they had in common was they were all full thanks to the generosity of northern Ontarians.

"It's honestly really great. Like the first day we put out this announcement, I got lots of text messages from friends asking where they can donate and I told them' anytime, afternoons,' and yeah, it's been really wonderful seeing the community," said Bozhyk's son, Paul.

Yurii Shcherbiuk has family and friends in the war-torn country. His family lives in western Ukraine, not far from the Polish border. They've been busy working to help refugees fleeing the eastern half of Ukraine.

Shcherbiuk, who has only been in Canada for a year, said he's been able to be in regular contact with his family. They have electricity and internet, but his thoughts are still with his loved ones every day.

"It's hard on me that I'm so far away from my homeland, but I'm trying to do as much as possible to help everyone in need and my heart is broken because there are a lot of people back home that are in desperate need of help," he said.

"I'm here for just a little over a year and I don't know a lot of people, especially Canadians or whatever, I know a couple of them but everyone knows I'm from Ukraine and I've been amazed. I'm receiving a lot of calls from people asking 'how can I help.'"

Bozhyk said more donation drives are being organized as they look to get more supplies overseas to Ukrainians now spread across eastern Europe.

"We'll see what they need more and we'll try to figure out exactly what they need and what kind of supplies we should be collecting," she said.

"It's amazing, I'm just so emotional," said Babiak, trying not to cry. "Thank you so much, the Ukrainian community is so grateful for everyone who has come forward to help us."