Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

STAND WITH UKRAINE

Food and fundraising: Stand with Ukraine working to create $25,000 endowment for Ukrainian students

Nov 7, 2023 | 7:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Saturday (Nov. 4) was a little taste of home for Ukrainian TRU student Sofiia Shmyhovska.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a source of added stress for Shmyhovska as she studies half a world away from her family.

“I have a really close relationship with my parents and my siblings. I never was away from them,” Shmyhovska explains. “It’s horrible… like, a lot is happening, and I’m really grateful to be here, but it’s really hard. It’s impossibly hard.”

The uncertainty the war has wrought in her life has been made a little easier thanks to a group of caring folk at Hills of Peace Church. Through a series of silent auctions held at the church, Stand for Ukraine hopes to raise $25,000 in the next three years. That endowment would create scholarship funding in perpetuity for Ukrainian students attending TRU.

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“It’s most important to think about rebuilding, as Ukraine continues to fight for independence,” Oleksander Kondrashov, social work educator and member of the Stand for Ukraine community explains.

There’s also a cultural aspect to the fundraisers. Members of the community gathered on Saturday to learn how to make nalysnyky — sweet and savoury Ukrainian crepes — and then share the food.

“I’ve been standing with Ukraine every Saturday — I think it’s about 85 Saturdays, now — with these wonderful people,” Juliana West explains, as she and several others cook enough nalysnyky to feed 60 people.

Every Saturday since the war started, Stand with Ukraine has held rallies, most often at Kamloops City Hall, as a way to keep the war front of mind and show support for folks fighting for Ukrainian independence.

“We want to make sure that Kamloopsians don’t forget, because two years ago they were just like us,” West explains. “They were getting up on a Saturday, shopping, out with friends. The world was a good place and then it wasn’t.”

Preparing and sharing food is also a great way to spur conversation.

“To show the culture,” Kondrashov says. “To show the richness of Ukrainian traditions and ideas, and connect this with people who are in Kamloops and people who come in from Ukraine, to have the opportunity to meet and share this food together, [as well as] to support the cause of building Ukrainian future.”

Shmyhovska is pursuing a degree in Social Work at TRU. While she’s heartsick, knowing how dangerous things are for her family and friends still in Ukraine, she’s thankful for the support of the community here in Kamloops. She also knows how valuable her education is and the educational opportunities a $25,000 endowment will create.

“Giving someone an opportunity to go study somewhere and simultaneously work through their trauma, and then come back and use their skill and knowledge to rebuild the country they want to live in, I feel it’s key for Ukrainian success.”

Stand with Ukraine has four endowment fundraisers planned for 2024:

• February 24, 2024 (two-year anniversary of Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine)
• April 20, 2024
• August 24, 2024 (Ukraine Independence Day)
• November 2024