A Ukrainian Pentecostal Church of Nicholasville located near Lexington, Kentucky, has raised approximately $145,000 at a bake sale to help Ukrainians fleeing from Russia. The Church held the bake sale on Saturday.
The event featured a lunch for those who attended and a section at the church where around 100 donated baked goods of various kinds were available for sale.
Victor Selepina who is the bake sale’s organizer, told Christian Post that nearly all of the members were from Ukraine or had family living there. He said he was surprised by the amount raised as it was not planned and they never anticipated to have so many people come out and to raise that money
Victor Selepina said “Our community has been absolutely wonderful, and we’ve been very, very, very blessed with a community that we live in, and also the opportunities that this country has given us at one point that we can now organize such events.”
The donations will be distributed through churches in Ukraine with ties to the Nicholasville congregation.
He also went on to encourage others to do what they can to help improve the situation for those displaced.
Selepina said: “If I have this idea, there is no way I can do this on my own,”
“It takes a lot of people to do it. We have anyone from like 13-year-olds to about 90 that just did their part, baking a batch of cookies, and that’s how it came together.”
Revealing more about the bake sales on Instagram, Matt David Online wrote:
“My one friend @simon.bud and his family told us about a Ukrainian Pentecostal Church right down the road from us and how they were having a bake sale yesterday. So we met them there. I was thinking after school bake sale, but these people were serious. There were not hundreds, but thousands.
A couple of observations…
1. War is real and the impact felt by this community because their friends and family are literally running for their lives is real. We were happy to contribute.
2. There are about 6,000 Ukrainians in the Lexington area. There are about 3,500 Jews in the Lexington area. This church regularly has 2,500 people in attendance and did a phenomenal job preparing for and graciously welcoming their community, with not just baked goods, but a full Ukrainian lunch including borscht.
3. My ancestry is from the Russia, Ukraine part of the world and I discovered I had more in common with this community than I thought before we showed up. When I was playing clarinet regularly, I used to play a collection of old Ukrainian folk songs. In the third video you’ll hear a song being played. It’s HaTikvah, Israel’s national anthem. And by the way, Israel has already sent teams of mobile medical clinics and doctors to treat the injured in Ukraine. Israel is ALWAYS THE FIRST country to show up to another country when there’s a catastrophe. Always. Even when it’s their enemies.
4. More than money, this community and their warmth continued to ask for our prayers, and I will.”
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