Former Peace Corps volunteer hosts fundraiser Friday for Ukraine with KC Irish Center
An event Friday organized by an Olathe woman who spent two years serving in central Ukraine will raise money for the community where she taught for two years in the Peace Corps.
The fundraiser will take place at 6 p.m. in Drexel Hall, 3301 Baltimore Avenue, in partnership with the Kansas City Irish Center.
“I’ve never put on an event this size,” said 34-year-old Paige Barrows.
“It’s great to be able to do this for people I care so much about, but it’s still a really sad and solemn occasion, the fact we have to do this at all.”
From 2010 to 2012, Barrows volunteered in a village outside the metropolis of Cherkasy.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Barrows began sending money to friends impacted by the war. Other friends of hers asked how they could help and she began raising funds for her former community.
She’s sent nearly $15,000 so far using TransferWise, a money transfer app.
“Most of the money was going to supplies,” Barrows said. “They bought two tons of food for the community and people passing through,” she said, adding that included medication and clothing for those in need.
Barrows said as the war escalated, she learned a former student of hers was killed near a shopping center. Other friends continue to fight on the front lines.
The event Friday will feature a Ukrainian dance performance, traditional cream-filled pastries and cakes from European Delights, a local Ukrainian owned market, and a musician playing a bandura, a Ukrainian string instrument.
Barrow said the evening will be capped off with her reading a letter from a Ukrainian friend who used the donations to purchase supplies.
“While this is a celebration and we want people to feel that, this is also a fundraiser for victims of war,” she said.
“We want people to recognize the tragedies happening in Ukraine and open their hearts to help.”
Money raised will be donated to Children’s Hospitals and to funds for internally displaced Ukrainians, she said.
Tickets are $20 at the door.
