WELLINGTON NORTH – As James Craig and Ashley DeMarte watched Russia’s attack on Ukraine from the relative comfort and safety of north Wellington, they began feeling helpless.
“It was very easy, early on, to just feel like you can’t do anything for the people of Ukraine,” Craig said by phone recently.
Craig farms at Blue Sky Beef, where his family raises cattle on 100 acres of holistically managed land near Arthur.
As Russian forces continued pounding their way further into Ukraine, Craig and DeMarte paid attention, learning about the symbolism of the sunflower – Ukraine’s national identity.
The couple are planting a little sunshine of their own this year and decided to raise funds for Ukraine by mailing sunflower seeds out to donors in response.
For every donation of at least $20, Craig and DeMarte mail out a pack of 20 sunflower seeds and stickers designed by Dom Fegan.
“We set a goal of $1,500 and within about a week we surpassed it,” Craig said.
As of May 2, the Sunflowers For Ukraine fundraiser had raised $3,465 toward a revised goal of $5,000.
“The hope is that when people start getting their seeds and growing them in their backyard, not only will they get to enjoy beautiful sunflowers, but then also that they will share their sunflowers on social media and we can build a little bit of a community around this,” Craig said.
Photo by Jordan Snobelen
The fundraiser can be found on Instagram using the handle @sunflowers4ukrainefundraiser and shared photos can be tagged with #sunflowers4ukrainefundraiser.
Craig said all money donated goes to the Canadian Red Cross’ Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal, with transactions handled by the CanadaHelps platform, on which the online fundraiser is hosted.
The Canadian Red Cross appeal is the same fundraiser to which the federal government has contributed $30 million.
According to the Canadian Red Cross, funds will be used for preparedness, relief efforts, long-term recovery, resiliency, and other needs in Ukraine and surrounding countries, including the helping of displaced persons.
When it comes to packaging, labelling, and shipping of the seeds – donated by the Ottens family for the fundraiser – it all comes out-of-pocket for Craig and DeMarte.
Five-hundred packages were recently mailed to Thunder Bay in response to a $1,000 donation from a school board that will distribute the seeds to kindergarteners there.
“It’s very easy when times are tough to feel stuck and this [is] our attempt to not feel stuck and then hopefully allow other people to grow some seeds,” Craig said.
