Manitoba’s ties to Ukraine are some of the strongest in Canada, with many people in the province second- or first-generation Canadians.
Those close ties have many local residents stepping up to support a nation whose under attack, including Goodies Bake Shop.
Co-owner Maksym Plienokosov immigrated to Canada in 2015, with many of his family still in Ukraine.
“I just don’t know what to do, how to get them out from…from that hell,” Plienokosov says.
“My mom, she is 70 and my sister she is 50, they were able to flee the war zone, the same day when missiles, started to hit the Kyiv region.”
His 80-year-old aunt wasn’t able to escape and is still stuck in eastern Ukraine.
“After all of those years, she had to spend and now probably has to still spend time, night time, in a bomb shelter.”
He decided to help in the way he knows best, selling cookies, with 100 per cent of the funds going directly to Ukraine. The support, he says, has been overwhelming.
In just 24 hours, the bakery had sold more than 1,00 cookies. His business partner Linda Peters had to take to social media, asking for volunteers to help ice cookies.
“My emails are flooded and the phone is ringing non-stop, the support is unbelievable,” co-owner Linda Peters says.
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Manitobans have proven to be eager to support. At the Ukrainian National Federation building on Main Street, Anna Karpenko has been hard at work collecting donations from residents.
“We’ve got so much support, it was incredible,” Karpenko says.
Her friends and family are still living in Ukraine, after she immigrated to Winnipeg in 2015.
“My morning starts by texting them, ‘Hello, are you still there, are you alive?'”
She’s helping to organize shipments of supplies to Ukrainians through MEEST, a freight company delivering goods free of charge. However, she says she still feels an immense amount of guilt.
“What I should be doing? I should be there, helping people, dragging wounded people out of destroyed buildings.”
Instead, Karpenko has been able to gather more than 100 containers of tactical and medical supplies.
“Things like tactical gloves, tactical glasses, tactical backpacks, kneepads, etc., and medical supplies, and the second area we’re focusing on is medical supplies, things that stop blood flow.”
Whether it’s containers or cookies, it’s an experience that shares similar sentiments.
“Incredible amount of response, people willing to use their spare time in order to help us help Ukraine,” Peters from Goodies Bakeshop says.
“Manitoba has the kindest people on earth,” Karpenko says.
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