EKC donates $5k for humanitarian support in Ukraine

The East Kootenay Community Credit Union (EKC) has donated $5,000 to support those displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The funds will go to the Red Cross and the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and the ‘Ukraine Crisis! Call to Action’ campaign.

“CDF’s ‘Ukraine Crisis! Call to Action’ will use the donations to respond to the humanitarian and resilience needs of their project’s beneficiaries and their families, CDF Ukraine’s staff and families, and their local partner’s staff and members,” reads an EKC press release.

“The beneficiaries are more than 2,000 vulnerable women, including internally displaced persons living in the Kyiv, Khakiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts of Ukraine. The 2014 invasion has already impacted them, and this is another blow to already vulnerable people.”

CEO of EKC, Jody Burk said that escalating humanitarian crisis was a tragedy.

“I am particularly concerned about the impact on Ukrainian women, who are often left on their own to keep themselves and their children safe. Our donation will go towards international relief with the Red Cross and CDF. I have seen, first hand, the value CDF provides on the ground while partnering with Cooperatives to deliver grassroots relief.”

EKC members can donate directly to the CDF campaign at the cdfcanada.coop website.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24 2022, has already seen hundreds of civilian casualties and over half a million displaced according to the United Nations.

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