Selling $40,000 in sunflower seeds to support relief efforts in wartorn Ukraine has earned national recognition for the Rotary Club of Chatham Sunrise.
The club’s Sunflower Seed Project has won the 2022-23 Gold Hero Award from ShelterBox Canada, an international relief charity specializing in emergency shelter, supporting people devastated by conflict or disaster.
“This was somewhat extraordinary,” said club president Glenn Smith about how the community got behind the project.
He said Paul Roy, a club founding member, came up with the idea of selling packets of sunflower seeds for $5, with proceeds going to Shelter Box to help displaced Ukrainians.
Not only did businesses and individuals buy seeds, but some also donated $1,000 or $2,000, Smith said.
Mitchell’s Bay resident Andre Cartier gave $25,000 from the Omer, Esther and Andre Cartier Fund through Gift Funds Canada, he added. Other major donors included Lance Babcock, Dave Baute and Sunrise Rotarian Pierre Beaumier.
“Our goal was to raise $10,000, which would have been a fantastic accomplishment,” Smith said.
It’s the highest recognition the club has received from ShelterBox Canada, he added. “We feel really, really good about it and quite proud.”
Rotary International and ShelterBox are project partners in worldwide disaster relief.
The local club’s donation to ShelterBox went to displaced families in eastern Ukraine, a media release said, where homes and livelihoods have been destroyed since Russian invaded in February 2022.
The donation provided items such as winterized shelters, repair kits, winter supplies, stoves, firewood and money for transportation to safer areas in other countries.
As of June 2023, an estimated eight million Ukrainians are living as refugees across Europe due to the conflict.
The local campaign also resulted in a partnership with Community Living Chatham-Kent, which let the club use its property at Grand and Victoria avenues in Chatham to create a Ukraine Park.