Although anti-Ukrainian vandalism has saddened local activists in recent days, community support has far outweighed whatever negativity has come up.
“For every one person that has something negative to say or do, there are a thousand that do the exact opposite,” Ukrainian Seniors’ Centre executive director Anna Johnston said, pointing to countless donations and fundraising efforts for people in war-ravaged Ukraine as evidence.
“People started making flags and scarves and buying material with their own money, and it just escalated from there,” she said, adding that approximately $100,000 was raised in March and they’re 75 per cent of the way toward raising another $100,000 this month.
“It’s been crazy,” she said. “We were overwhelmed, we were so surprised. … “Sudbury is a big, generous community, and I think it hit home for a lot of them – the wrongness of what’s happening.”
Fundraising started the day the war in Ukraine began, and she said people became fired up by the injustice of it all from Day 1.
People have been calling the centre, dropping off donations and offering moral support at rallies staged along Notre Dame Avenue outside the centre in recent weeks, many of whom not even Ukrainian – “they just don’t know what to do.”
This, she said, is in stark contrast to rare local instances of anti-Ukraine sentiment via vandalism, such as the pro-Russian “Z” for “Za pobedu” (for victory) painted on St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church.
The Ukrainian Seniors’ Centre saw a swastika painted on their sign, but Johnston said that with the good things far outweighing the bad they remain in positive spirits.
The money they bring in will all go toward the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, which offers humanitarian assistance via medical care, emergency shelter and food security for Ukrainiains affected by the war.
Those interested in pledging a donation or launching a fundraiser can contact the centre at 705-673-7404. Donations can be made at the centre itself, and they accept cash, debit, credit, cheques or e-transfer.
St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church has raised approximately $100,000 toward the Catholic Near East Welfare Association to support people in Ukraine by assisting a hospital in Lviv, which is treating the wounded, and housing and caring for the displaced regardless of their faith.
“We support one another in times of crisis, and sometimes it’s not just monetary but it is the spiritual, the mental support that you are not alone in this crisis,” pastor Peter Bodnar told Sudbury.com during a rally earlier this month."
