Ukraine donation drive ending early after overwhelming response, organizers say

Organizers of a donation drive in Ottawa for Ukraine say they can only accept donations for a few more days after being overwhelmed by items over the weekend.

By midday Saturday, the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral Hall in Ottawa was overflowing withclothes, non-perishable food, medical supplies and other items.

"We're at capacity. We literally can't take any more things. It's a health and safety issue," said Olenka Reshitnyk-Bastian, co-ordinator of humanitarian relief for Ukraine atthe Ottawa branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

Reshitnyk-Bastian said volunteers stopped accepting donations at noon Saturday to sort and box up the itemsbut were accepting donations again on Sunday and would continue doing sountil March 9.

Only priority items going forward

The organizationplans to send the donated items to Ukraine through Meest Corporation, a Toronto-based shipping company that put out a call for items to forward along to their partner organizations in Ukraine.

Meest is currentlysending priority goods like medical items, medicine, tents, sleeping bags and combat gear,so Reshitnyk-Bastian said they're nowonly accepting those items as well.

As for the clothes and non-perishable items that have been donated, Reshitnyk-Bastian said they'll be placed in storage untilMeest is ready to ship them.

"In about a week's time, Meest will come out and say, you know, we need food now and we'll ship that off," she said.

James Fraser and Sarah Quigley were some of the people who stopped by the church Saturday, bringing with them non-perishable goods and feminine care items.

"I'm shocked at the amount of traffic ...every street [nearby] is backed up completely, and they're completely full inside. So we're leaving things outside," said Quigley.

Quigley andFraser said they wanted to do something to help the people of Ukraine, especially as the last couple of years with the COVID-19 pandemic haven't been easy.

"If we can make that a bit easier for people in some way ... it's the best thing we can do," said Quigley.

Donate money if you can, says expert

Kate Bahen, managing director of Charity Intelligence Canada, understands the urge of Canadians to help but said donating money rather than items is usually the better way to go.

"In Ottawa, you have a community organization overwhelmed with the response," she said. "Similarly, charities and organizations outside of Ukraine and inside of Ukraine will be overwhelmed with this stuff."

Charity Intelligence Canada has a list of organizations accepting money on their website. Bahen said it's always better to do a little research before donating, and also to donate money online rather than to people collecting in person.

• 5 things to consider when donating to Ukraine

Even so, Reshitnyk-Bastian said sometimes people want to donate physical items rather than send money over the internet,and that's what she's trying to facilitate.

"I understand that there's hesitancy with donating to organizations, and people like to see donations in the form of physical things," she said.

She said the Ukrainian Canadian Congress isn't collecting funds, but they do have partners who are. She and other volunteers have been directing people who want to donate money to those places, which are listed on their website.