Donations started coming in minutes after an online account was set up Wednesday by members of Kelowna’s large Ukrainian-Canadian community.
Within hours, more than $30,200 had been raised to help buy body armor, helmets, combat gloves, and tactical medical supplies for desperate Ukrainians trying to prevent a Russian takeover from their embattled country.
“The support has been amazing, really incredible,” Dennis Storozhuk, an organizer of the fundraising campaign, said in an interview.
“So many people want to help, not just people from Ukraine, but everybody else who cannot believe what they are seeing Russia do to Ukraine,” he said. “Donations are flying in.”
As well as the donations, rifle scopes, rangefinders, and walkie-talkies were among the items offered in person last Sunday by people attending a Kelowna rally in support of Ukraine. Another such rally is planned for 2 pm Sunday at the Harvey Avenue pedestrian overpass at the Parkinson rec centre.
The donated items can be delivered to Ukraine within days, Storozhuk says, while the purchase and delivery of other materiel should be almost as quick.
“There’s a lot of effort being made to get this kind of support into Ukraine as fast as possible,” he said, citing discounted shipping rates and expedited distribution channels. “The Ukrainian people needed it yesterday, but at least it’s on the way now.”
Storozhuk, a 50-year-old Kelowna businessman, is originally from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital that military analysts say the massing Russian forces are poised to lay siege to in the coming days.
“The Ukrainian people will fight,” he says. “But they are going to need all the help we can give them.”
There are at least 14,0000 Ukrainian-Canadians among the Central Okanagan’s population of 222,000, Statistics Canada says. Many of them, like Irina Posthumus, have direct family members in Ukraine.
Her mother, brother, and his family live in Ivano Frankivsk, a city in western Ukraine that has so far not been attacked by Russians.
“They’re trying to stay calm and not to panic, but it’s a very frightening time for them,” Posthumus said Wednesday. “They’re collecting food and other supplies, like first aid kits, and sending it to the war zones. Trucks are still getting into Kyiv from the west. At least they are right now.
“I wish my mom would leave, but she just won’t,” Posthumus said. “She’s scared, but she hates the invaders so much she wants to stay and do what she can to defend her country.”
– To support the local group raising money for Ukraine’s defence, send an email to ukrainekelowna@gmail.com
