Toronto Woman Helps Raise Over 20K To Fly To Poland & Bring Teddy Bears To Ukrainian Kids

Last week, a Toronto resident, Christine Burych, had no idea how to help the people of Ukraine as Russia invaded the country. On Thursday, she landed in Poland with over $20,000 raised for teddy bears and shelter for Ukrainian refugees.

Burych, a 54-year-old Ukrainian woman from Toronto, started a GoFundMe page just three days ago after joining a group of individuals organized by Nina Meyerhof, president of the One Humanity Institute and Children of the Earth, committed to bringing 600 teddy bears to Ukrainian children.

"Teddy bears was our big focus because everybody else has been focusing in on medical aid or food or clothing, and so we thought who's focusing on the kids?" Burych told Narcity. "To have something to hold and to hug and cuddle with can provide a lot of comfort, especially during difficult times like this."

As of March 3, the GoFundMe page surpassed its goal and Build-A-Bear Workshop donated an additional 600 teddy bears.

Burych, Meyerhof, and other volunteers landed in Kraków, Poland, where they will hand out teddy bears and work towards securing shelter for incoming families.

How it happened

Last Friday, Burych's husband received a text from their family friend Meyerhof, asking him to come to Poland to help her organize and distribute teddy bears for recently displaced Ukrainian children.

While the offer wasn't initially meant for Burych, there was no way she was turning it down.

"She thought it was going to be my husband. I was like, 'Nope, I'm coming instead,' because I'm Ukrainian, so this is an issue that hits near and dear for me."

Burych's father fought in WWII, and her parents immigrated to Canada after it ended.

Meyerhof, an 80-year-old US resident, has run similar programs in the past for Syrian refugees and other survivors of traumatic events, and Burych recalls her saying, "We've done this before, let's do it again."

When news broke of the Ukraine Russia conflict, Burych says she felt she needed "to be in action" couldn't just "be a bystander and watch this happen."

"If Nina hadn't called, I still would have been scratching my head wondering what to do," she said. "I'm so thankful that somebody had the gumption to say, 'Hey, let's just go do something, and we'll figure it out as we go.'"

Burych quickly became involved with the project and started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the teddy bears and the group's travel expenses.

What happens now?

Six days later, the group has gathered enough resources to distribute upwards of 1000 teddy bears and is moving towards securing shelter for refugees with the additional donations collected.

"There are a couple of buildings though the One Humanity Insitute on-site in Auschwitz, and we want to help fix up a couple of the buildings that are there so that we can house families."

Burych says the support poured in has been "overwhelming," although there is still more work to be done.

"There are many families who are coming here, who don't have anywhere to go."

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.