‘Need is even greater’: Fundraising events being held in B.C. for Ukraine

Two fundraising events are being held in B.C. to raise money for Ukraine.

One is a concert and the other an evening of activities. Both are organized by the Maple Hope Foundation, with one on Saturday in Victoria and the other on Sunday in Vancouver.

The Maple Hope Foundation was created in 2014 by Svitlana Kominko in response to Russian aggression in Crimea.

“Ten years later, the need is even greater,’ she said.

“What Putin has done in two years is unimaginable … the entire (Ukrainian) population is traumatized.”

The concert on Saturday will be at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre on Douglas Street in Victoria, starting at 5 p.m.

On Sunday, the foundation’s Decade of Hope event is being held at the Vancouver Club on West Hastings Street.

The Decade of Hope event will feature dinner, entertainment, a live auction and live music.

One of the speakers at the Vancouver event is Ukrainian Oksana Gurska.

She said her husband has been taken captive and is a prisoner of war now in Russia. She said he was defending the city of Mariupol for 86 days before he was captured.

Gurska has written a book of stories and poetry People From Steel, which can be purchased through the Maple Hope Foundation.

“All money raised from this book will go towards supporting Ukrainian children, and prisoners of war and their rehabilitation,” she told Global News through a translator.

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