Veiner Centre director Cori Fischer holds a hand-made sunflower picture donated by early learning program, kindergarten and Grades 1-6 students from St. Louis School.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat and area community is coming together for the Veiner Centre’s Stands with Ukraine fundraiser happening March 22.
The fundraiser is an all-day public event hosted and organized by the Veiner Centre, with contributions from various local individuals, organizations and businesses.
“The Veiner Centre does stand with Ukraine,” centre director Cori Fischer told the News. “We had a senior leadership meeting with (centre leadership in) Calgary and we started talking about the idea of doing a lunch to support Ukraine and take donations. When I got out of the meeting I came to the team and said ‘Hey, here’s an idea. Calgary wants to do this; everybody had ideas and things started rolling.”
While there are various activities planned for the day, the feature is a Ukrainian-inspired meal, consisting of perogies, sausage, borscht, hot vegetables and Ukrainian desserts. There will be two sittings at which the meal is served, the lunch sitting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the dinner sitting from 4-7 p.m. Each meal costs $10 plus GST and 200 meals will be served in total, with all proceeds going toward Canadian Red Cross efforts to support Ukrainian citizens.
“We want an opportunity for some of our seniors, who may be on a limited income, to say, ‘I can still support this and do my part,'” said Fischer. “So, we thought it was really important to keep it at an affordable price.”
Fischer is grateful to local producers and suppliers who donated food for the meal.
“When we started putting inquiries out for donations and involvement, the phones started ringing (and people asked) ‘What can we do to help?” said Fischer. “We had sausage donated from Premium Sausage, (as well as) perogies and condiments from South Country Co-op.”
Carmen Hudson, director of marketing and community relations at South Country Co-op, is pleased to be involved in the fundraiser.
“Co-op is about community and right now we are a global community. We are very happy to be assisting the Veiner Centre to support this cause,” Hudson said in a statement to the News.
Many decorations for the event have also been donated. Fresh Flowers and Gifts will be providing table arrangements and have agreed to sell small floral bouquets at the centre with proceeds also going toward the Canadian Red Cross. Students at St. Louis School coloured and decorated 100 pictures of yellow sunflowers – a symbol of solidarity with Ukraine – which will adorn the walls of the centre’s bistro.
“(This project) ties in with our (tenet) ‘all God’s people across the world,'” St. Louis School principal Ron Blackmer told the News. “It also ties in with a partnership in the community.”
Fischer welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with students.
“We’re going to put (the pictures) up all over the Bistro, then anyone who comes in on that day and makes a donation can take one of those pictures as a thank-you,” she said.
Attendees are also able to sit in on a presentation about Ukrainian culture, sociology and geo-political history given by Hatter John Cherwonogrodzky, a first generation Canadian whose family hails from Ukraine. Cherwonogrodzky has found the local community eager to learn about Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
“It seems like everybody’s affected,” Cherwonogrodzky told the News. “I think, people need … some place to go and learn about Ukraine.”
While some aspects of the event are still being planned, Fischer is overwhelmed by willingness of the community to contribute, and expects more features will be added to the event in the coming weeks as a result.
“We have had so many individuals, companies, businesses come to us and say, ‘We want to help,'” she said. “I do think it’s something people are looking for to support. We want to encourage the entire community to be involved with it. Definitely our members, but I think this is something our whole community can become involved in and support Ukraine.”
Veiner Centre staff are hoping to raise $10,000 for the Canadian Red Cross through the event. The Veiner Centre will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on March 22 and is open to the public. Meals must be purchased in advance. For more information, contact the Veiner Centre at 403-529-8307.
