Local Resident Leads Ukraine Fundraising Efforts

Local resident Sally Baer is hosting a “Celebration with Soup and Song” as a fundraiser for the people of Ukraine.

The fundraiser will take place at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, located at 410 North Main St., at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“The upcoming fundraiser is a way to sort of celebrate what’s gone on in the community and their efforts to support Ukraine,” Baer said. “We’ve raised over $615,000, so it’s a way to kind of say thank you and then to also give people a chance to come and support more if they’d like to or to support in general.”

Starting at 6:30, Baer will be hosting a “Taste of Ukraine” in the Undercroft. Baer said refreshments will include borscht, which is a traditional soup similar to a winter vegetable soup that Ukrainians eat on a daily basis, verenike, which is a pasta similar to ravioli with potato and onion, sauteed onions, and compote, which is a daily drink in Ukraine.

Baer said the food for the event will be prepared by Jackie Francis from Ashville General.

At 7 p.m., Baer will host an evening of entertainment at the church. Featured live performances will include a Celtic group called Water Horse and a musician named Michael Gerholdt. Recorded presentations will include performances by Alex and Vitalik from the Ukrainian towns of Lyviv and Lutsk.

The night of entertainment will also feature interwoven stories of Baer’s visits to Ukraine over the past eight months, as well as video clips from her experiences in Ukraine.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was chosen as the location of the event because the church has been a strong supporter of Baer’s mission to help the people of Ukraine and her family attends the church.

“Basically, from the beginning, the church has been foundational and encouraging and supporting and just has been there,” Baer said. “That’s why we’re celebrating at that church.”

Baer said the event is meant to celebrate the local community’s efforts to help the people of Ukraine, while providing another opportunity for people to contribute to those suffering from the Russian invasion.

“We’ll be accepting donations during the event and just really celebrating what’s going on,” she said.

Baer explained the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused her to commit to a personal mission for the people of Ukraine.

“In the beginning of the invasion, in February, I myself like many people kind of stood back and was appalled by this big giant country kind of going after one of its neighbors and just feeling like it was definitely a threat to their freedom and their culture and their heritage, but more importantly, possibly the rest of the world,” she said.

With over 30 years of international experience, Baer said she had experienced living in different environments around the world. Her family lived and served in Ethiopia by helping with community development in a rural location, and Baer’s daughter is from Ethiopia.

Baer’s family also worked in Kazakhstan and was preparing to move to Kazakhstan prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which she said changed her family’s plans dramatically.

“We opened a gift shop out in Lakewood, which is really cool,” Baer said. “It’s a toy gift shop.”

As the conflict in Ukraine began, Baer and her 22-year-old son decided to travel to the country to help those in need.

“The first trip we went initially just diving in,” Baer said. “We helped with refugees on the first trip, getting them out of Ukraine, driving into Ukraine and bringing aid.”

In addition to transporting refugees and bringing aid, Baer and her son worked on a couple houses for Ukrainians and brought military and defensive gear into Ukraine. Baer said she has helped transport over 10,000 pounds of military grade vests and a total of at least 13,000 pounds of aid.

“On that first trip, I came home, I just kind of thought, ‘Okay, this is it. That’s the end, I’m going to go back to my life.’ But that wasn’t what happened, and I’m still incredibly active.”

Baer has been on four trips and spent over two months total in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. Throughout her humanitarian aid efforts with the Ukrainian people, she has developed a close relationship with the town of Lutsk.

“There’s a group of volunteers there that they’ve been heavily invested in trying to support the defenders of their country,” she said. “They work directly with the Ukrainian military to do that.”

As a result of her close relationship with the town, Baer has been able to provide military tourniquets to the people of Ukraine since July. The tourniquets can be used to apply pressure and prevent a loss of blood from injuries the Ukrainian military and civilians receive in the war. Baer said the tourniquets are “very expensive” and difficult to procure from Europe.

“I’m basically their supplier for military tourniquets,” she said. “They’re $25 a piece, so this last trip, I bought $10,000 worth of tourniquets and $5,000 worth of drones. That was in September.”

Baer is currently raising money to provide additional aid to Ukraine on her next trip. She told The Post-Journal her son is already scheduled to make a trip to Ukraine in January.

Baer said the upcoming Ukraine fundraiser at St. Luke’s will provide an opportunity for people in the community to learn more about what is happening in Ukraine.

“If people are feeling uneasy about what’s going on there, this is a chance to learn more and participate,” she said. “Many of us feel helpless about this experience, and this is a way to not feel that way. That’s why I do it. I’m not helpless. I’m doing something. There’s a lot of people around here doing something as well.”

Baer explained $25 for a tourniquet can “save a life” by stabilizing the wounded until they are able to receive additional medical treatment. To date, Baer has managed to raise enough money to send roughly 700 tourniquets to the people of Ukraine.

“They’re not cheap, but they can save a life,” she said. “That’s 700 human beings that we potentially saved already. That’s a lot of people.”

In addition to the upcoming fundraiser, Baer said she has a Facebook page available (facebook.com/sally.naetzker.baer) where she posts regular updates when she is in Ukraine and hosts online fundraisers. Baer also said there is an opportunity for people to donate to her efforts in Ukraine at her family’s 6 Baers Toy and Gift Shop, located at 50 Chautauqua Avenue in Lakewood.

Regardless of the attendance at Baer’s upcoming fundraiser, she said she will continue to provide aid and support for the people of Ukraine until God tells her to stop. Baer said her faith has inspired her to do her part to help the Ukrainian people.

“To be able to watch that be molded together and the way that God just popped open doors, it’s pretty mind blowing,” she said. “This whole thing has been a reflection of the power of light outshining the darkness. People are believing that they can make a difference and in fact making a difference.”

Baer said it has been a “humbling” experience to witness over 700 people and organizations donate and contribute to the work she has been led to do in Ukraine. While she hopes a peaceful resolution can bring an end to the war in Ukraine, she is determined to help in any way she can until the work is finished.

Джерело: www.post-journal.com