War in Ukraine continues. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 23,606 civilian casualties in the country: 8,791 killed and 14,815 injured (May 8, 2023). In addition, 5.4M are internally displaced. OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.
Witnessing the scale of this humanitarian catastrophe in the heart of Europe in 21st century, Bert Clark of Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) and Jeff Lang of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) were compelled to organize a fundraiser for Ukraine, where The Honourable Bob Rae, Ambassador of Canada to the United Nations and a long-term supporter of Ukraine, delivered a keynote address on “Leadership in Times of Global Crisis: The Russian War against Ukraine.”
The organizers chose the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal – a joint effort of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), to receive the proceeds from this fundraiser. In Mr.Clark’s own words to his colleagues in the finance industry, “CUF is a charity doing important work to address the hardship many Ukrainians are suffering.”
His message echoed with many, including Tim Griffin of Connor, Clark and Lunn Financial Group, who joined the organizers in helping to fill the room.
With almost 250 people in attendance, the fundraiser breakfast, held on June 27th, raised over $300,000 for the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Orest Sklierenko (President and CEO, CUF) and Alexandra Chyczij (President, UCC) were both in attendance and expressed their gratitude for the trust and generosity shown by so many supporters.
The funds raised through this event will be directed to help relieve the aftermath of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine that sparked a water crisis in the region, which experts fear could last for generations.
“Sanitation, drilling of new wells, water pump replacement, and installation of new water storage containers in the rural villages of the Kherson oblast impacted by the flooding, will be a large project the CUF-UCC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal (UHA) undertakes this July”, said Victor Hetmanczuk, Chair of the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief committee (UHRC) that manages Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal fund. He continued, saying that UHRC has just approved increased production of the water purification kits from 900 to 1,500 weekly (15,000 units in total), which will then be sent regularly to Kherson region for distribution to individual families. Also, delivery of food boxes (10,000) will continue for the foreseeable future, as understandably, the fields and food storage units were flooded and the food production in the area is significantly impaired.
What began as an idea to help Ukraine, will now have a lasting impact on lives of thousands in war-stricken Ukraine. CUF and UCC would like to express their gratitude to The Honourable Bob Rae for his time, insightful address and for standing with Ukraine, and to Bert Clark, Jeff Lang and Tim Griffin, as well as a small but mighty committee who helped with the organization of the event: Thomas Robson (IMCO), Taras Hetmanczuk, Andrij Maleckyj (UCC, CUF) and Peter Sochan (CUF), “Your efforts and the generosity of so many who responded to your call, will ensure people in the severely impacted areas of Ukraine will have access to a clean water supply for years to come.”
Background
Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal (UHA) was launched in 2022 by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) to coordinate the provision of humanitarian assistance quickly and efficiently to civilians impacted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including relief for displaced persons in Europe and Canada.
To date, we have delivered over $35 million in food, medicine, emergency shelter, mental health support, surgical aid, firefighter gear, individual first aid kits, ambulances, generators, and many more types of aid.
Please click here to read further about our humanitarian relief efforts since the full-scale invasion on February 24th, 2022.
Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) was established in 1995 to coordinate, develop, organize and implement aid projects created by Canadians and directed to Ukraine. Read more about CUF’s history on Wikipedia.