A little help from Canada
An excerpt from Darrell McKay’s wartime memoir on delivering aid to Ukrainian refugees.
February 18th, 2026
Darrell McKay is a project manager and photographer in Bowser, BC,
“I told her I had a friend back in Canada that had sent some money and wanted me to give it to people to help them along the way. I said I had an envelope with a little bit of money in it that would pay for a couple of hotels and some meals. I asked if she’d accept it as a gift from my Canadian friend.”
Darrell McKay recounts his experiences delivering aid in My Time with Heroes: One Canadian’s Story of Supplying Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine (self-published $20), a memoir drawn from journal entries and photographs made during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In My Time with Heroes, McKay documents transporting humanitarian supplies across the country and reflects on the soldiers, volunteers and displaced families he encountered along the way. The book centres on firsthand observation, recording moments of uncertainty, resilience and community support in wartime.
The following excerpt is Tour 1: On The Border.
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Money donated by Peggy.
May 30, 2022, Hrubieshów
Letter written to Peggy at the Dołhobyczów border crossing
Hey Peggy, you will like this.
I packaged up a few envelopes with approximately C$110 of the money you gave in each one, thinking that’s a fair amount to get somebody through Poland into Western Europe. This will help with a few hotels, maybe even some food.
Today I am at a new border crossing, and it has been quiet all day until about 3:00 p.m.
At 3:00 two buses came in, one after the other. Both were from the east, Kherson region and right near the Donbas, and travelling through Odessa, heading to Warsaw. This is a very long bus trip. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing it is probably a 16-to-24-hour bus ride to get here.
For some reason the first bus was held up for about three hours, so I waited for it to come through, not knowing what to expect. When it came into the secure area, nobody was allowed off the bus. That’s the first time I’ve seen this. Usually, people come off into the holding area and I get a chance to help them out with food and coffee and give them items we donate.
A security guard came by and said I was okay to go on the bus with food if needed. So of course, I hopped on the bus. This bus was mostly women and children with a few old men—some of the old guys were bandaged up. Forty-two people in all.
Before I came on board, I had loaded up the second bus driver with juice boxes and I had grabbed a whole pile of chocolate and goodies. We walked up and down the bus giving them out to the kids, and to the mothers and the old men who would take them.
The bus was quiet, hot and smelly. Too many people packed in too close with no way to clean up. I walked up and down the aisle twice and reloaded a couple times with food and goodies. Everybody was friendly but shy.
All they owned.
Again, it seems like the people that need help the most don’t take what is offered initially. After a couple of offers, they did take it with a big smile. No one took more than they needed.
There was one young mother of maybe 20 and she had an infant with her. The mother looked so tired, her hair was sweaty and stuck to her head. The child needed a good wash as well. I couldn’t imagine travelling that far with an infant on board a bus.
I said hello to the little baby and made a bit of a fuss of him and the kid burst out into a big smile. It was nice to see that even after a long trip like that, the kid was able to laugh at my funny face. The mother was also engaged and smiling. I sure wished I could be taking photos, but this unfortunately was not the place.
I discreetly pulled out one of the envelopes and I handed it to the mother and said, “A little help from Canada.” I quickly did the same to another woman with children. Then I got off the bus and it left. On the outside of the envelopes the words, “A little help from Canada.”
The second bus came in and there were 60 people on board, each exhausted. One of the first people to come through was a young woman about six feet tall. As she came over to me, I asked if she spoke English and she said yes. I asked her a few questions and she was very happy to talk. She spoke English well.
She said she was from Odessa, which was not in terrible shape although it was constantly under air raid sirens. She said she was lucky because it’s not as bad as in the east or where the rest of these people on the bus were from.
The front of the bus said Warsaw, so I asked her if that was her destination. She looked a little scared and she said, “No, I’m going all the way to Canada.”
It sure made me proud to know that somebody from so far away had picked our country to start a new life. She said her older brother was working as a physicist in Toronto and he told her there was a lot of opportunity in Canada. I told her that she would be employed right away, and we needed people like her. Nervous and alone, she said she was 24.
I had to carry on helping people so I left her there with the thought that Canada would be a good place for opportunities. The bus was starting to load up and I saw her about to get on and gave her a wave. She came back to me, and then I told her a quick story about my friend Peggy.
I told her I had a friend back in Canada that had sent some money and wanted me to give it to people to help them along the way. I said I had an envelope with a little bit of money in it that would pay for a couple of hotels and some meals. I asked if she’d accept it as a gift from my Canadian friend.
She was all red in the face and I gave her the envelope, then the tears started. She smiled and carried on, touched by the generosity of a stranger 8,000 kilometres away.
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