VANCOUVER, Wash. — A Ukrainian man who lived in Vancouver for twenty years is now helping refugees back in his home country. Vladimir Venger returned to Ukraine in the summer of 2021 to help build churches. Little did he know, he would be caught in the middle of a war several months later.
Venger, his wife and four kids are all currently in Ukraine. They are in the town of Vinnitsa, which is a couple hours from Kyiv, the capital.
"On the morning when we started hearing explosions in our own city, I realized I was not prepared for that and it was a very scary moment," Venger said.
For the past month, Venger and several volunteers have been helping refugees find food, gas, water and housing. He said some people had been hiding in their home for several days without food or water, just to escape the bombs.
"I have a house in Vinnitsa, it has a basement, so a lot of people come there for the night — eat some food, take a shower, get some rest and continue farther," Venger said.
Venger said as the war gets worse, so will the need. He started an online fundraiser to raise money to buy more supplies for the refugees.
"Buy some grains, buy some pasta, fruits, vegetables, oil, salt, sugar, things like that," Venger said.
Venger said his family could have left when the war started but they decided to stay. He does fear for his family's safety but he wants to keep helping.
"We were helping at the church ... I couldn't leave all these people on their own, it would be betrayal to them," Venger said.
Venger said when the war is over, he thinks Ukraine will face a huge housing crisis, because a lot of peoples' homes were destroyed. He also thinks there will be an ongoing food shortage.