Ukrainian welcoming centre helping refugees fresh off the plane

A new welcoming centre at the airport is the latest effort to make Ukrainians coming to Winnipeg feel more at home.

On Friday morning, Oksana landed in Winnipeg. She said she was living in a basement near Chornobyl before coming to the city to leave the war-torn country.

Her family are the first people to be greeted by the Ukrainian Welcoming Centre at the airport.

"You know missiles have been landing on them for the last seven or eight weeks, a lot of the individuals have been living in makeshift bomb shelters the last few weeks try to seek safety," said Nick Krawetz, who helped organize the welcome centre.

The welcoming centre will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. every day for the foreseeable future and is staffed by volunteers.

Krawetz said the centre acts as a familiar and friendly face for those arriving from Ukraine.

"We are providing support and guidance to them of how they could access services, how to get help if they may need, if they may need items to assist them in their first few days and weeks here such as clothing and so forth," said Krawetz.

The centre will also assist incoming Ukrainians to the provincial support centre set up in a hotel near the airport.

The province said the reception centre should be operational in a few days and will provide initial intake services, ensure necessary accommodations and help coordinate other provincial supports.

"Manitoba will welcome and help as many Ukrainian refugees as possible once the federal government determines how many may be coming to Canada. Any arrival dates will be determined through that process, but the province is preparing for thousands," said the province in an email statement to CTV News.

United Canadian Congress Manitoba (UCC) said the reception centre is a great system for Ukrainian refugees.

"I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with the effort that they're going to get that centre, the potential services that it's going to offer to people. A one-stop shop, there's going be a lot of support," said Ostap Skrypnyk, a volunteer with UCC Manitoba.

The centralization of support services is also being welcomed by individuals trying to help out.

Trish Rawsthorne is helping a young Ukrainian couple find housing before they arrive on April 17, a task she said hasn't been the easiest.

"So I've had to find other accommodations for them, so I started searching as to where I could find information about government support housing all the things that you need for a house," said Rawsthorne.

No matter the difficulty or what services are needed, Rawsthorne said Manitoba is there to help when it matters the most.

"I mean, I think Winnipeg and Manitoba is a very caring community, and they want to help, so any way we can help, I think we're going to offer to do that because that's the nature of Manitobans," she said.