Ukrainian-Canadian group raises $75K for war-torn country

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This article was published 17/05/2022 (1595 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local organization Tryzub has raised approximately $75,000 to help Ukrainians in the last two and a half months.

At Brandon City Council’s regular meeting Monday evening, two representatives from the Ukrainian-Canadian association updated councillors on what they’ve done so far to assist people trying to survive or flee the Russian invasion and outlined what resources they require going forward.

“To start off, people need to somehow get to Canada,” presenter Julia Krykavska said of the process to bring refugees to the region. “From the main point of entry to Canada, they need to get to Manitoba or to Brandon.

“We try to introduce Brandon as much as we can to all the Ukrainians. We’ve created a video and we posted about Brandon in Ukrainian and are sharing information on Manitoba and Brandon and how welcoming [they are].”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United Nations estimates that 6,266,844 refugees have fled the country. Russian forces have invaded via Belarus in the north, Crimea and the Black Sea to the south and the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east.

Earlier this week, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence reported it believes Russia has lost approximately one-third of the ground forces it committed to combat in February.

According to Tetyana Morley, the other presenter, volunteers in Brandon have made approximately 10,000 dozens of perogies — working out to around 120,000 — for fundraising purposes. She estimates she made about 3,000 of those.

They’ve also been able to raise money by selling cabbage rolls and items like Ukrainian flags.

With the money raised, Tryzub has been able to purchase things like bulletproof vests, medicine, food and contribute to the acquisition of new heavy trucks to transport equipment for the Ukrainian military.

Morley told the Sun in a followup interview on Tuesday that Tryzub has been able to provide direct support through its members’ connections to people back in Ukraine, which can be a benefit as they don’t have to work through the same kind of bureaucratic processes that groups like the Red Cross do.

A lot of the money Tryzub has sent out has gone in small portions, like $1,000 to people in Mariupol. That city has been besieged for months, with the last soldiers and civilians making a desperate stand inside the underground tunnels of a steel plant.

Earlier this week, the Ukrainian military ordered the remaining soldiers to surrender the plant to Russia after weeks of bombardments.

In the occupied city of Kherson, Morley said she has heard of people going without essential medicine, with which Tryzub is now trying to help.

One of the group’s contacts is Morley’s brother Vladymyr, who is serving as a unit commander in the Ukrainian military in the Donetsk area. That part of the country has been embroiled in conflict since 2014, when a group of separatists took control and declared the region to be an independent entity known as the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Another contact is a man from Brandon, Vartan Davitan, who left his job at the oil fields in Virden to volunteer for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

“He’s our hands [in Ukraine],” Morley said. “If someone needs bulletproof vests for soldiers, he can order them or connect with people. That’s how we purchased some.”

Morley also has experience with bringing people fleeing the war to Canada — her mother and cousin are staying with her after leaving her hometown of Cherkasy, approximately 200 kilometres southeast of the national capital, Kyiv.

She said Cherkasy isn’t doing too bad, but the city is sometimes the target of Russian missile attacks because of a large bridge that crosses the Dnipro River. Thankfully, those missiles have yet to hit the bridge.

When it comes to the needs of refugees, it’s not just food and clothing that people need. Medical tests are required for people wanting to come to Canada as well as helping to provide COVID-19 vaccinations. People who aren’t vaccinated or who can’t provide proof of vaccination need somewhere to isolate for two weeks.

Tryzub is collecting money for those efforts as well as furniture, volunteers willing to house people and methods of transportation.

While the initial response from people in Westman was positive, Morley said she’s worried about the future of the fundraising efforts.

“It united all of us,” Morley said of the war’s impact on Tryzub. “Right now, we’re a huge group. Especially in the beginning, people were very open to donating. Right now, it looks like people are tired of the war.”

To achieve that goal, the group is pushing forward with more fundraisers and is still hopeful that people will provide assistance. It’s not just people who can help, but businesses as well.

For instance, the CanadInns in Brandon recently donated the use of space for a fundraising sale. The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair also donated the use of a table for fundraising while it was running.

Krykavska said Monday that members of the community can make monetary donations either directly to Tryzub or through Westman Immigrant Services.

“It will stay in the economy, stay in Brandon, will stay in Manitoba,” she said of the donated funds. “That will help the economy as well to help Ukrainian people settle in Canada.

More information on the donation process can be found online at westmanimmigrantservices.ca/ukraine.

Later this week, Tryzub will be holding two fundraisers in Westman. The first is a charity barbecue at the Co-op Food Store in Neepawa from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The second is another barbecue at the Rapid City Co-op, with the Rapid City Lions matching donations up to a maximum of $2,500.

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