Sunflower Network to give Ukrainians help coming to Saskatchewan

A group of Saskatchewan residents is looking to help out Ukrainians coming to the province following the invasion from Russia.

The Sunflower Network is comprised of people from all across Saskatchewan who are pooling resources to get these people a place to stay.

That can include flight, housing, and food costs, as some will not have any family to unite with.

Volunteer Brian Crossman says the Sunflower network has plans to get Ukrainians to a wide variety of places in the province.

"We have plans to get them to places like Estevan, ideally where they have family already if possible like we have some people going to Saskatoon up there, Abernathy, Moosomin, possibly Carnduff, and Oxbow. We're trying to get people here, get them to safety and get them housing, get them what they need to survive."

They'll also be helping out once the war is over if those Ukrainians want to return to their home country.

"If they want to stay in Canada that would be great, but we're guessing some of these people might want to go home to Ukraine once the war's over for them," said Crossman, "Hopefully soon, and then we'll get them home. In the meantime, they can come here and be safe and make a living and if they have children, those children can go to school."

Crossman says that he's looking to help out with the cause by doing more than just donating.

"I spent my whole career donating to causes, but I've never done much boots on the ground work myself and I thought that this is an opportunity to maybe donate some time as well as money, and try to be a good helper as I always say."

The Sunflower network also has plans to set up fundraisers, helped out by members who can make those operations run smoothly.

"We're going to be doing some fundraising specifically for the Sunflower Network so we can get families here. We have access to a charitable organization, someone on our group who has a family foundation so they'll be able to write tax receipts for people and businesses as well," said Crossman, "So we're going to be able to keep everything in an upstanding fashion so that it's dealt with in a proper way."