Slavic Club is running a fundraiser from Feb. 3-7 in front of Activities to support Ukrainians as the Russia-Ukraine war persists into its fourth year.
Senior Benji Simberg came to club president senior Viacheslav Riashchentcev with the idea, and throughout the week, the club has sold homemade crafts during periods four to six for the Colorado nonprofit Sunflower Seeds Ukraine (SSU).
“My family has been directly affected by the conflict in Ukraine,” Simberg said. “It’s accumulated many, many, many deaths, all of which are unnecessary and could have been avoided. I thought it was necessary for somebody to step up for a group to collect funds to somehow contribute and show Creek’s care for this terrible conflict that’s going on.”
SSU works to provide defensive, tactical, and humanitarian gear to help affected civilians and defenders in Ukraine.
“Things that we take for granted, they do not take for granted in Ukraine,” SSU fundraising coordinator Chip Heldman said. All SSU staff are unpaid. “We can go down the street to an urgent care center…they can’t do that. So medical supplies, super important.”
Even SSU’s efforts, alongside nonprofits across the U.S. aren’t enough to raise enough for all Ukraine needs – and Slavic Club’s profits won’t be either – but the club still finds meaning in their efforts.
“Even though this might not give us thousands of dollars [for SSU]…this is still a help,” Riashchentcev said. “We’re not the only ones [fundraising] nor the main source of their income, but anything obviously helps.”
SSU tries to provide the gear that the Ukrainian government simply can’t account for.
“The government of Ukraine is trying very hard to supply their military with all the equipment that they need,” Heldmand said. “But there’s a lot of stuff that falls through the cracks.”
At their stand, Slavic Club sells small homemade pieces like flowers and bracelets, made by Simberg, his family, and the club’s vice president Karina Poole, all themed in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine’s flag.
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“Being able to hand make crafts to support the fundraiser has been a fun way to truly invest my efforts and time into creating things people can enjoy and use to represent their own commitment to Ukraine,” Simberg said. “I worked to make bracelets and flowers with my mom over several days, learning new skills and spending quality time with her.”
Senior Sarah Daneshmand bought several items from the store, including a flower pin and a bracelet.
“We are still just kids, but I think it would be nice if we started to help out as well in these efforts,” Daneshmand said. “I think we should support Ukraine, I think once we enter high school some of us start to become more responsible and aware of things going on around us like the bunch of conflicts going on.”
Simberg has family directly involved with the conflict. His parents emigrated from the Soviet Union, and he still has relatives in Ukraine.
“My uncle right now is in Ukraine,” he said. “He’s helping design, I am not quite sure what the specifications are, because he can’t tell me, but something along the lines of drone machinery.”
He’s seen a dropoff in support or awareness the past few years for the war in Ukraine, and he wanted to change that at Creek.
“It’ll send a message to everybody at Creek, those in the surrounding area, that there is still support,” Simberg said. “Hopefully it reaches those who have been alienated against the idea of supporting Ukraine.”
Riashchentcev agreed – maybe the funds from the stand wouldn’t meet all the needs of SSU – but it could bring awareness at Creek and show refugees that some aren’t forgetting about the war and their struggle.
“I hope that we can just send a message out that there is just a community here at Creek that is willing to get involved,” Riashchentcev said. “I know that there are a lot of refugees and immigrants that came as a result of this conflict. We wish to support them, help them, and we wish to alleviate the suffering that they feel for their families and loved ones that they left behind.”