CHEK Upside: Island woman creates card fundraiser for Ukraine

Victoria’s Lesia Kuzyk is a proud Ukrainian Canadian and is also a member of the Kalyna Ukrainian Choir.

“Since September 2019 I’ve been singing with the choir,” says Kuzyk.

“Our choir is at the maximum about 20 people.”

With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Kuzyk and her fellow choir members felt the need to help out. That’s when they started thinking about Vyshyvanka Day.

“It was started in 2006 by this student at the Chernivtsi University in Ukraine and her idea was let’s create a day where we can celebrate this national Ukrainian art form [of embroidery],” says Kuzyk.

So they got to work, creating cards with pictures of traditional hand-embroidered textiles from their personal collections.

“In the end we have these 10 beautiful cards,” says Kuzyk.

“Each has a photo of a really unique piece of embroidery [and] each has a very interesting story and I wrote the story on the back of the cards.”

The cards will be distributed through Facebook and local businesses, with all proceeds going to Ukrainians either fighting on the frontlines or fleeing the war.

“The first organization I’m donating money to is called the Maple Hope Foundation and they’re based in Vancouver,” says Kuzyk.

“They send non lethal aid to combatants in Ukraine as well as supporting refugees in Ukraine and neighbouring countries where they’ve fled to.”

For more information on how to get a Vyshyvanka Day card, visit the Kalyna Ukrainian Choir Facebook page.

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