INNISFAIL – When the Easter season arrives it is revered by Christians as a reminder of renewal, a symbol of hope and a promise the spirit within will be energized to soar high above all clouds of despair.
And it is so for a committed group of community volunteers from the Innisfail Senior Drop-In Society and the Innisfail United Church who joyfully came together to support special people halfway around the world during their greatest time of trial in this sacred season of renewal.
Lorraine Bannister bakes for local seniors at the Lundgren Centre once a month. In March, she had an idea for herself and other centre volunteers.
Bannister wanted to do a fundraiser. Easter was approaching. There’s a terrible war raging in the Ukraine. Millions of people are displaced and suffering.
“They (volunteers) were so terrific, and they said, ‘yes, we want to do an Easter fundraiser but we want all proceeds to go to refugees,” said Bannister. “It was so generous and so typical. They’re always looking at people who need something more than they do. They said right away, ‘let’s do this and let’s donate all the proceeds.”
However, this would not be just any ordinary fundraiser. It’s faithfully all about bread, considered by Ukrainians as one of the holiest foods.
At Easter it’s especially true for paska; a light, eggy and slightly sweet bread which on the inside can be a swirl of yellow and white that’s believed by Christians to represent the risen Christ, with the white representing the Holy Spirit.
Volunteers were tasked on April 14 to cook the best of this Ukrainian traditional bread to raise money to support those who need it the most on Easter Sunday in 2022.
“At the end of Lent, you have lots of eggs in your bread. You have really rich food after having really lean times for the days of Lent,” said Bannister, adding she’s long relied on a recipe she found in a newspaper from the St. Basil's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Edmonton. “At St. Basil’s every Easter they use the Easter bread as a fundraiser. The women’s group get together and bake lots of Easter bread.
“So, this has been on my mind since. It’s a really good idea for a fundraiser, and there is now a war in the Ukraine. I thought it would be over by now but I thought refugees are always going to need support,” she said, adding the loaves and buns prove to be a tantalizing combination on Easter Sunday. “What I tell people is, ‘the loaves are great for toasting, and the buns are great for sharing.”
Bannister said after putting a notice of the April 14 fundraiser plan on social media, Lucille Paquette-Lohmann, the program coordinator at the seniors centre, called her a couple days later to say the Lundgren Centre was being blitzed with calls for the planned Easter bread.
“There was a panic that we couldn’t possibly bake that much in the seniors' kitchen,” she said, noting that while there were enough ladies to bake buns on April 14 at the senior centre, finding enough time and help to bake loaves could be a huge problem.
“It was too many for us to make. This isn’t something I have ever done before on this scale,” she said. “My number one preoccupation was getting more people together and working out the logistics.”
But Bannister would soon learn there was plenty of passion to help at Innisfail United Church.
“Lorraine phoned us because she knew we had done the renovation in the kitchen and asked if we could help, and we made out a call for volunteers and some of the women from our congregation gladly stepped forward to offer their time,” said the church’s Rev. Darren Liepold. “It was just a way for us to say, ‘yes, we know the people of the Ukraine are suffering and we want to give back a little bit to help them out.”
Everything was then set for April 14. Two Innisfail volunteer teams were passionately ready to create delicious homemade Easter paska to support Ukrainian refugees.
When April 14 was over, the volunteers at the seniors centre and church had baked and sold 42 loaves at $8 each, along with 36 pans of buns, also for $8 each.
They’re now able to donate at least $600 to help Ukrainian refugees. At least $300 of that will go to the Ukrainian Congress of Canada Alberta Chapter (UCC-AB), and at least another $300 will go to the United Church’s fund for refugees.
The local Easter gift to war-battered Ukrainians came from volunteers Cinda Ferguson, Lorraine Bannister and daughter Molly, Lucille Paquette-Lohman, Elaine Sinnamon, Jill Pedersen, Darlene Gunderson, Barb Thomson and Sheila Thorsen.
“They’re just caring community individuals,” said Bannister, underscoring the many locals who generously stepped up at Easter, including John's No Frills in Innisfail with $100 worth of baking supplies. “I think people felt really good about devoting their energy to just pitch in and support this effort.”
