Saturday’s “Still Standing with Ukraine” fundraiser raised $4,000 for Wilmington’s sister city, Merefa, Ukraine. Presenters at “Still Standing with Ukraine” included, from left, Chuck Watts, Christine Snyder, Elaine Silverstrim, and Randy Riley.
Submitted photo
The local “Still Standing with Ukraine” fundraiser raised more than $4,000 last Saturday for Wilmington’s Ukrainian sister city, Merefa, in the state of Kharkiv, according to a news release.
The event, held in the Wilmington Municipal Building Moyer Community Room, was in observance of the second anniversary of Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine.
Randy Riley, who was mayor of Wilmington when the sister city relationship was established in 2013, recounted the hospitality extended to him when he visited Merefa and emphasized the ongoing need there for humanitarian aid.
Christine Snyder, a founding member, along with Riley, of the Wilmington-Merefa Sister City Committee that oversees the collection and transfer of local donations, reported that donations prior to the fundraiser have totaled $40,000.
Elaine Silverstrim presented an overview of the current war in Ukraine, and said, “This war is not going away, and neither are we.”
Local sister city donations go through the Wilmington Yearly Meeting to an NGO in Merfefa, headed by Dmytro Mykysha, Merefa’s representative to Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
Notified of the result of the Saturday fundraiser, Mykysha wrote in a text message, “This is very good news. I am very grateful for the support and the help! It is inspiring when we have reliable friends who are always with us. It is very important that you tell everyone the truth about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian propaganda paints a distorted picture of their own invasion.”
Clinton County A.C.T. co-presidents Rachel Boyd and Vicki Wilson expressed their gratitude for the ongoing financial and moral support for the people of Ukraine, noting that local weekly Saturday standouts for Ukraine are entering their third year.
Those wishing to contribute to the Merefa fund should make checks to the Wilmington Yearly Meeting, with “Merefa” in the memo line, and mail to Pyle Center Box 1194, 1870 Quaker Way, Wilmington, OH 45177. Online donations can be made at https://proempathy.us/ukraine .
“Still Standing with Ukraine” was sponsored by the Clinton County Alliance for Compassion and Truth (A.C.T.), the Empathy Surplus Network USA, and the Wilmington-Merefa Sister City Committee.
