As a plane carrying 177 Ukrainian refugees touched down in St. John’s, N.L., Tuesday night, Pamela Ryder Lahey was at the front of the crowd inside the airport waiting for five young people to walk through the gates.
The retired chief executive officer of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court has spent the past months securing the five 21-year-old graduate students a spot at Memorial University in St. John’s. She also found them a four-bedroom house and raised enough money to ensure their rent was paid, their fridge was stocked and their beds were warm and waiting.
“We are here because of this great woman,” said Angelina Schevchenko, pulling Ryder Lahey into a tight hug. Schevchenko said she was thrilled to be in Newfoundland, where she’ll start a master’s degree in social enterprise and entrepreneurship….