GUCC Dinner Raises Over $1,700 for Afghan/Ukrainian Refugees
Prime movers Sonia Dunbar and Cara Hill show some of the 120-plus take-out dinners and sides they and other volunteers prepared for the June 10 benefit in the Greensboro United Church of Christ kitchen.
A poster announced the June 10 Afghan/Ukrainian refugee relief dinner in Greensboro, which raised over $1,700.
Josh Karp and Maria Schumann sing Ukrainian folk songs outside Greensboro United Church of Christ Fellowship Hall as people picked up dinners to help Afghan/Ukrainian refugees.
Josh Karp and Maria Schumann sing a Ukrainian folk song to some of the volunteers preparing take-out meals to help Afghan/Ukrainian refugees. (Left to right in the kitchen) Cilla Bonney-Smith, Cara Hill, Sonia Dunbar, Bobbie Nisbet, Rick Lovett. In the foreground are sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower, from the greenhouse of Ted Donlon and Valdine Hall.
by Hal Gray
GREENSBORO – On Friday, June 10, many community volunteers, with the leadership of Sonia Dunbar and Cara Hill, prepared over 120 take-out meals with numerous side dishes in the kitchen of the Greensboro United Church of Christ. They raised over $1,700 to benefit Afghan and Ukrainian refugees. Originally planned to help Afghan refugees, the dinner’s purpose was modified to assist Ukrainian refugees as well after the February invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Preparation of vegetables began Wednesday, June 8, with final cooking and distribution of the dinners on Friday, as people arrived on a “first come, first served” basis.
They were serenaded by Maria Schumann and Josh Karp with Ukrainian folk songs. The singers were joined at various points by people familiar with the songs or who simply wanted to show their support. As the entire stack of dinner containers disappeared, Schumann and Karp moved inside behind a bouquet of sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower, from the greenhouse of Ted Donlon and Valdine Hall, to serenade the remaining kitchen crew.
The proceeds are being split evenly to help the Vermont office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in its work with Afghan refugees and Hungarian Interchurch Aid in its work with Ukrainian refugees.
