In teaching us charity, the Gospel instructs us in the preferential respect due to the poor and the special situation they have in society: the more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of others. Pope Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens (1971), n.23.
In October 2022, together with St John of God Hospitaller Services (SJOG), we launched the Homes for Ukraine matching service. The scheme allowed Ukrainian nationals who were residents in Ukraine prior to January 2022 as well as their immediate family members to apply to be hosted in the UK.
The SJOG service provided matching, training and support for both hosts and guests. Together we conducted numerous information sessions both in-person and online to encourage hosting and explain the service.
Since October 2022, we have matched over 138 individuals with generous hosts across the country. The SJOG scheme has now come to an end, and we celebrated its successes on the 19th June at the Ukrainian Catholic Church in London, where we also launched the evaluation report, which you can read online.
In the report you can also hear from guests and sponsors about their experience, the challenges and highlights, and how guests are settling into life in the UK.
The manager Maria Pashkova helped me at every step, from meeting the family to booking tickets, for which I would like to thank her for. To be honest, I didn’t believe until the last moment that we were really going to the UK, until Maria sent me our plane tickets. I felt like I was in a gentle embrace, I didn’t even have to plan our trip or book the tickets because Maria did it all for me. This was a new and extremely pleasant experience for me. The family we live with now is incredibly wonderful. Every time I talk to them, I can feel how great they are. I feel how big their hearts and sincere souls are. I often think about the fact that thanks to your work and effort, we have met such extremely kind, decent, polite and sympathetic people who are doing their best to help us rebuild our lives. Thank you very much.
Liudmyla Rohova, Ukrainian guest hosted in South Yorkshire
We thank everyone for their support with this matching service – there have been many lessons learnt throughout the process which we hope will help in the development and introduction of future schemes for people seeking sanctuary.
