A meeting is set to be held at a community church in Saugeen Shores Thursday evening to discuss how to help people who are fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
SouthPort Church Pastor David Baker says, pending immigration approval, one person is in the process of coming to Saugeen Shores from Ukraine and a host family is preparing for their arrival.
Baker has traveled to Ukraine a number of times where he has spoken at leadership events in recent years and has connections with people there.
He says he’s been getting calls from people asking if there was any way they could help.
Baker notes, he’s certainly no expert on resettling people or on immigration, but adds, the idea behind the meeting would be to pool expertise in the community and to see how people in Saugeen Shores can help.
“What we can do is we can bring people together and have a discussion,” says Baker, adding that’s the intent of the gathering, “To come together as like minded people with a goal of helping wherever we possibly can to assist people that are looking to come to Canada,” says Baker.
He explains,”We’re inviting anyone that would like to come to participate and be part of this discussion,” adding, “We’re not coming together having all of the answers, we’re coming together to have a forum, to have a discussion about how we can pool all of our talents together to make this happen.”
The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the SouthPort Church at 6 Carlisle Street in Southampton.
Baker says you don’t need to be a member of the church, and people with no connection to the church have already signed up.
It is recommended you register for the meeting online on the SouthPort Pentecostal Church’s Facebook page.