Concerts aim to raise funds for suffering Ukrainians

Those who want to help those suffering from war can do so this weekend at the Friends of the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine fundraising concerts.

The two free concerts, which will feature the Mennonite Faith and Life Male Choir and the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus, will take place at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg on Saturday, 7 p.m. and at Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach on Sunday at 3 p.m. Donations for the Mennonite Centre’s work in Ukraine will be accepted.

The concerts will also feature reflections by Olga Rubel, a Ukrainian who manages the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine’s humanitarian work.

“We are grateful for the support,” she said during her visit to Canada. “It lets people in Ukraine know they aren’t alone.”

Money raised at the concert will be used to provide food, shelter, clothing, water and other essential items to people who have been displaced by the Russian invasion of that country.

The centre also supported 10 summer camps for children, giving them a chance to be normal kids for a bit as they got away from the impact of the war.

“The work we do helps people to survive,” Rubel said, adding the centre partners with local churches to provide the aid. “The situation is very difficult for many people.”

Originally, the centre operated in the town of Molochansk, in southern Ukraine, to serve seniors and other vulnerable people in that area. In 2022, on the third day of the invasion, the Russians occupied the town and closed the centre down. It now operates out of the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia in Ukrainian territory, with a wider mandate to help all who are impacted by the war.

“We are working all the time to meet needs,” Rubel said. “So many people are suffering.”

This includes delivering supplies to people in villages that have been liberated from Russian control. “Their homes and businesses are destroyed,” she said. “They lost everything.”

For Alvin Suderman, a Winnipeg volunteer who helps co-ordinate the work of Friends of the Mennonite Centre in the Ukraine, support from Canadians is vital.

“The food situation for many people in Ukraine is very tenuous. Everything has been disrupted,” he said.

The concert featuring Mennonite and Ukrainian choirs is more than a fundraising event, he said; it is also a symbol of friendship between the two groups.

“There is a fondness in the hearts of Mennonites for Ukraine,” Suderman said, noting that many Mennonites in Canada today have parents or grandparents who fled Ukraine in the 20th century to escape communism.

“We grew up on stories of life in that country. That’s why so many of us want to help Ukrainians today,” he said.

Since starting 25 years ago, the Mennonite Centre in Ukraine has provided about $4 million of aid to people in that country, much of it since the war began.

For more information, visit mennonitecentre.ca.

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