Local Ukrainian families were welcomed to the Carman Church of Christ on Oct. 24 to pick out a new quilt. Each couple received a large quilt, and every child was gifted a small quilt.
Earlier this fall, Maureen Carr of Carman contacted the Pembina Valley Local Immigration Partnership (PVLIP) for assistance. She is a member of the Carman Compassionate Quilters group, and they have made several quilts to get them to families in the area from Ukraine.
The group was having trouble making connections to get these donations to those who could use them, so PVLIP connected them with members of Regional Connections who work more directly with newcomers in the region.
PVLIP’s main objective is to help create welcoming and inclusive communities for newcomers to Canada throughout south-central Manitoba.
Since 2018, PVLIP have had connections with various Carman residents as they built its network to understand better the needs and gaps in the Carman/Dufferin area as it relates to immigration, whether that was through refugee sponsor groups, employers seeking out foreign workers, or new arrivals requiring direct services such as English as a Second Language classes (now provided by Regional Connections).
Richard Dyck (Town of Carman Councillor) has been on the Partnership Council group since 2019 and has been the primary liaison between the municipalities and our efforts to build welcoming communities, including participating in our strategic planning and developing a Welcoming and Inclusive Communities Policy that was adopted by the Town of Carman in 2021.
Through additional partnerships (GPAC, Carman Wellness, Health Communities Committee), PVLIP has been able to establish various connections that have led to being informed of barriers these partners may be aware of regarding newcomers to the community.
“Through a collaborative and supportive approach within our partnership network, we have been able to find and develop solutions that serve both the community partners and local newcomers that hopefully result in positive outcomes for all,” said PVLIP coordinator Elaine Burton-Saindon.
Some of these outcomes include advocating for the establishment of Regional Connections to provide direct services at the library on Tuesdays, making connections to find temporary housing for a newcomer working in the community, and now, helping to connect the Carman Compassionate Quilters with the intended recipients, who are displaced Ukrainian families living in the area.
“The efforts by the Carman Compassionate Quilters to provide quilts to these families is truly inspiring, and I am touched by their generosity,” said Burton-Saindon. “What they have done exemplifies ‘how to be a welcoming community,’ and I am very pleased to be able to help them connect to the people they spent hours thinking about as they sewed each stitch. The work we focus on at PVLIP is to identify how we can create Welcoming and Inclusive Communities for newcomers, and what they have done exemplifies this to the core.”
Olena Anishchuk and her family were recipients of the quilts on Oct. 24, and they will be putting them to good use.
“We got a message from Regional Connections about getting these quilts and so we got the quilts for us and the kids, and also my mom, aunt and friend got these beautiful pieces of art too,” said Olena Anishchuk. “We’ll use them around the house lots as they’re warm and the right size, but for me, it’s more than a blanket. It is the love and care of the community. I can’t even imagine how much time, materials and imagination went into their production, but I know for sure that those women were thinking about how to do good for the new inhabitants of Carman. I, my family and my friends are sincerely grateful to everyone who made them and organized their distribution in the church.”
Despite the great day of handing out quilts at the Carman Church of Christ, there are still more quilts available to other Ukrainian families in the area or just those in need.
“It was a great day as we were able to share half of our quilts that we’ve made in our group,” said Maureen Carr of Carman Compassionate Quilters. “And those helping the newcomers in our area have our number to get more quilts for the families, so we’re hoping to get more of our quilts out there in people’s hands very soon.”
