Easter bake sale to benefit Friends of Ukraine Canada

An annual tradition that offers unique Ukrainian baked items and crafts is approaching.

Friends of Ukraine Canada is hosting their bake sale event at Clearspring Centre on April 19.

Mel Kachur said the organization formed with a perogy fundraiser in Pansy about four years ago, when $5,000 was raised for NASHI (which translates to “our people”), an orphanage in Ukraine.

Since then, annual bake sales have benefited Ukrainian refugees through the Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund at Southland Church, as well as food banks and soup kitchens in the Southeast.

This year’s event runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and features the sale of baked goods such as pies, Paska, and Babkas as well as cabbage rolls, perogies, nalysknyky, soups, stuenetz, beet relish and more.

It also features a silent auction, 50/50 draw, and gospel and folk music which begins at 10 a.m.

Kachur said this year’s event will also be a way to honour his late wife Helen, who died Jan. 14.

The event is supported by a variety of people and Kachur said they appreciate the help from organizations like Sobey’s and Clearspring Centre.

Kachur, who also organizes the Garden of Eden that grows food for food banks across the Southeast and Winnipeg, said this is an annual event people should try to attend.

“It’s a great meeting place,” he said. “Celebrate Easter and buy delicacies you don’t make at home.”

With a world so full of what Kachur called “bad stuff”, he said this is a great way to make a difference “one perogy at a time”.

“The need is great, and this is a great way for people to come and donate a bit of their time and money and buy baked goods,” he said. “It’s all for the good.