INNISFAIL – Last month Innisfailian Joanne Wouters had an inspiration to help those less fortunate.
She is the president of the Catholic Women’s League (CWL) from Our Lady of Peace parish in Innisfail and her inspiration was one that looked outside the town but on the minds of almost every Innisfailian.
“We often do one community thing. And this time, and because the world is now kind of open again, we thought we should do something,” said Wouters. “There was a poster that there was a need for money for refugees. And we thought, OK, we can work for this, not just donate money.”
The poster was an appeal from the St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church in Red Deer for needed donations to boost the Ukrainian Displaced Persons Planning Committee Fund.
This initiative was established last March in Red Deer to provide assistance to Ukrainians fleeing their country’s current brutal war. The goal of the fund is to support refugees who have the opportunity to settle in Central Alberta.
According to the Red Deer church’s website page, the committee has become the main source of aid and information for new Ukrainian families as they come to Central Alberta. The page adds that as of last month there have been more than 140 displaced Ukrainian citizens who have arrived in the region.
“I approached them (church) because I thought if somebody would donate money to me, I want to know about it,” said Wouters. “I told him that we were going to do this and then they said, ‘they are going to help bake cookies.”
She said her inspiration to have the CWL cookie sale was to hold it at the same time and place as the Our Lady of Peace’s annual garage sale, a church fundraising committee initiative, from June 9 to 11 at a large private shop east of Innisfail.
“We got a really wide assortment of different ideas of cookies. It was a nice cookie sale. Everybody put their best foot forward,” said Wouters, adding the CWL received cookie-creating help from many other local citizens and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Innisfail. “We made all kinds, from nicely decorated cupcakes to peanut butter cookies to chocolate chip.”
When the cookie sale was over the CWL ladies were delighted to find out they had raised $2,295 for the hopes and dreams of needy Ukrainian refugees coming to Central Alberta. The ladies then went to see Father Jim Nakonechny of the St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church Red Deer on June 26 to present him with a cheque for $2,295.
“All the money stays in Red Deer,” said Wouters, adding she’s not aware yet of any Ukrainian refugees that have arrived in Innisfail. “They have 200 people here (Red Deer), and its often women with children whose men have either died, or they're still at war.”
The money collected by the Innisfail CWL can now be used by the committee for the purchase of airline tickets for desperate Ukrainians wanting to come to Central Alberta, and to assist displaced families with medical expenses and groceries.
