UK man buys a three-bedroom house for a refugee family from Ukraine

In a Facebook post, Hughes wrote that he was heartbroken after he saw the horrifying visuals of the war. Explaining how he initially thought of housing a new family in a part of his home, he wrote, “Our first thought was to annexe [sic] part of our house to create a private living area for a family.”

He later added that an architect advised him that the construction would be cramped and take two to three months. That was when he decided to buy a new property and tried to find out if there were families that he could help.

The BBC reported that Hughes was put in touch with the family of Maria, who used to work in the anaesthetics department at a Ukrainian hospital, by a woman named Renata Fox. Fox had assisted more than 50 refugees with housing issues.

Maria fled Ukraine with her three sons, aged 10, 12 and 14. They are expected to move into the Wrexham house by April 10 if their visa formalities are completed in time.

With help of his friend Julie Simkins, Hughes tried to furnish the house. Simkins appealed to community members on a Facebook page named Wrexham and Ukraine United to volunteer their services to paint the house and build wardrobes and bunk beds in it. 

Hughes and his friend’s selfless efforts have touched many people. 

That’s so kind, but I do think there’s a conversation to be had about why some people are seen as deserving of help and others are most definitely not. In which conversation I feel the media have an awful lot of influence.

— Sarah Mac (@grannyash510) April 2, 2022

What an amazing act of kindness 😭👏❤

— CarolineDaly 🇺🇦 (@cdaly72) April 1, 2022

Jamie Hughes says he felt compelled to help after the ” absolutely devastating ” scenes in Ukraine .

— Anirudh Chatterjee (@Anirudh1969) April 1, 2022

What a fab story👏👏👏

— mark demierre (@murphus69) April 1, 2022

You’re a good man

— Queen Elizabeth (@TheOneRealQueen) April 1, 2022

To all the people winging, you can do what you like with your own money.

— Bhibhas (@bhibhas) April 2, 2022

Julie Simkins received overwhelming support and help from the community members, who are now working to get the house ready for its new residents.