The weekly East Kootenay Ukraine Support Group vigil featured a perogies and borscht sale on Sunday, March 27. The menu proved to be a hit.
Not only did the group come away with dozens of orders for coming evenings, but $5,000 was raised to help reunite Ukrainian refugees with family members in the region.
The East Kootenay Support Group was last month, upon the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It holds weekly vigils in Rotary Park, and is also working to help bring the immediate family members and other refugees from the Ukraine to be reunited with their relatives.
“We were able to already hand over enough to two of the families to support for flights, gas and hotel — and now we have two more here, that have a total of six family members wanting to come here,” said Tamara Cartwright, one of the organizers of the support group.
Dozens of orders were placed for perogies and soup, Cartwright said. “This week we will be back at Auntie Barbs Bakery cooking and pinching!”
Organizers Tamara and Kimberly would like to thank all the citizens that came out and supported the event, but even bigger thank you goes to the volunteers that stepped up to help, and to Barb Smythe for the use of her commercial kitchen and bakery.
“We will be back in the park at 7 pm Sunday night for our usual vigil,” Cartwright said. “Sorry folks, no food — but we will be taking orders!”