Tag: Ukraine

“Thank you, Sackville” : Ukraine flag flying at town hall as donation drive wraps up this week

From left to right: James Fala, Christina Stasula, and Mayor Shawn Mesheau raising the Ukrainian flag at Sackville town hall on Monday, March 14, 2022. Photo: Erica Butler

The Ukrainian flag is now flying at Sackville town hall, after a small, emotional ceremony Monday afternoon with Mayor Shawn Mesheau, director of corporate projects Kieran Miller, and the family of Ukrainian-Canadian Christina Stasula. The Mayor started off with some heartfelt comments before joining Stasula in hoisting the blue and yellow flag.

“We are all human beings on this planet,” said Mesheau. “No one should have to live in tyranny and be forced out of their homes… I just ask people to stand by you and be part of helping us get to a better place.”

The Stasula family were wrapped in yellow and blue, and played the Ukrainian anthem on a phone during the flag raising. Afterwards, Stasula said she was moved by the gesture.

“I feel really proud and honoured to be part of this community,” said Stasula. “Thank you Sackville.”

Stasula has helped organize a donation drive at town hall, collecting supplies to be shipped to Ukraine by the Ukrainian Club of Moncton.

The load of donations, including boxes of medical supplies donated by the Corner Drug Store, at town hall on Friday, March 11, 2022. Photo contributed by Kieran Miller.

Kieran Miller said the first week of the community donation drive was a success, and the Ukrainian Club hauled away one truckload of supplies on Friday.… Continue

Sackville’s Ukrainian connections and the call for material aid

Sackville residents Christina Stasula and Iryna Zadorozhna spoke with CHMA last week, with some help from a niece in Ukraine, translating by phone. Screencap: Erica Butler

Christina Stasula and Iryna Zadorozhna are both concerned for their families in Ukraine, and also for the rest of the citizens in the country which has been under attack from the Russian army since February 24, 2022.

CHMA spoke with the pair from Zadorozhna’s Sackville home last Friday, with help from a niece in Ukraine, who provided translation services by phone for Zadorozhna. They spoke about the situation in Ukraine, and what people elsewhere can do about it.

You can hear that interview, edited for length, here:

(A shorter version of this interview aired on CHMA’s Tantramar Report earlier this week.)
Donation boxes in the second floor lobby of Sackville town hall, as seen Monday night, after just one day of collecting items. Photo: Erica Butler

Throughout the past week, donations boxes have been filling up in the lobby of Sackville town hall, collecting supplies that will be shipped by the Ukrainian Club of Moncton to Poland and then to war torn Ukraine, to help some of the estimated 1.5 million people now displaced by the invasion.

The families of both Zadorozhna and Stasula are being impacted.

“Ukraine is very scary right now,” Zadorozhna told CHMA. “The Russian occupants have destroyed a lot of cities in Ukraine. And they’re bombing hospitals, orphanages, schools, and many other civilian places… This is the situation in Ukraine and my family is suffering from the same situation, the same conditions.”… Continue