Orbit Ukrainian Store shipping supplies to Ukrainian army

While nations meet to discuss the crisis in eastern Ukraine, one Edmonton ex-pat has turned her small shop into a stopover for supplies destined mostly for the Ukrainian army.

Luba Tsisar, and a few others, started gathering supplies — warm clothes, boots and medical equipment — at Orbit Ukrainian store on 97th Street.

She said it started as a small effort, something to do in response to what she saw on the news or heard from friends back home.

“We started to be worried how people were going to survive winter. Because winter can be as bad as here in Alberta,” Tsisar said.

They gathered coats and boots and shipped them directly to the forces fighting in Ukraine.

The collection grew. More people took part, as well as some companies. Donations and labour started coming in from the communities surrounding Edmonton — places like Leduc, Vegreville and Morinville.

Most of it was packed into Tsisar’s store, waiting to be shipped off. In the past four months, she estimates they have shipped about three tonnes of supplies, subsidized by her own business.

“It is powerful,” she said, saying she has received “great support” from the Ukrainian community in Alberta.

She said there was enough support that they could start sending help to orphanages in Ukraine.

The fighting, which according to the United Nations has killed more than 5,300 people since April, has intensified ahead of Wednesday’s summit between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.

Father Cornell Zubritsky, with the St. John Orthodox Cathedral in Edmonton, said that many people from Ukraine are not optimistic about the struggle their country faces and are looking to help any way they can.

“You’re fighting this behemoth of an army with high-tech stuff,” he said.

“Nobody saw this coming; everyone has been blindsided.“

Meanwhile Tsisar will continue sending what supplies she can to the home she left two decades ago, although she hopes that soon it will not be needed.