Ukrainian refugees in Westport raise money for cancer charity

UKRAINIAN refugees living in Hotel Westport have helped raise over €800 for Westport Relay for Life.

Several Ukrainian women living in the hotel helped bake treats for a successful coffee morning held recently in aid of Relay for Life.

As the women had no cooking facilities in the hotel, volunteers’ kitchens were used to bake the goods for the recent coffee morning.

These include delicious Easter Pasca, a cake-like bread served every Easter in Ukraine.

Westport Welcomes Ukraine, a local volunteer group that has assisted Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the town since February 2022, have allowed refugees to use their kitchens for the past year-and-a-half.

The group has already raised over €2,000 for Relay For Life, which returns to Westport this weekend following a highly successful maiden event in 2023.

Judy Casey, a co-founder of Westport Welcomes Ukraine, told The Mayo News that the feedback from the women who baked for the coffee morning was ‘very positive’.

“After living in a hotel, as grateful as they are to have a safe place to live, cooking and baking and even cleaning up in the kitchen, are part of normal life, and it’s something that they are not able to experience after being here for a year or more,” she said.

Entirely new experience

Ms Casey said that being part of a coffee morning was an entirely new experience for many Ukrainians.

“A number of women that I spoke to said that this wouldn’t be popular in Ukraine, or it wasn’t before the war, so they didn’t know what to expect” she said.

First run in Westport last year, Relay For Life is a fundraising race held in honour of cancer survivors, those who have passed away from cancer and people currently suffering with the disease.

Relay for Life is a 24-hour event where teams join together to walk a designated distance or time, with someone from the team being on the move at all times in the 24-hour period.

When not walking, team members are free to socialise, enjoy live entertainment and take part in activities arranged by their committee.

The event also involves a Candle of Hope ceremony, which sees the lighting of hundreds of candle bags with personalised messages.

Run in numerous locations across Ireland, Relay for Life is the biggest cancer fundraising initiative in the world.

“In Ukraine, the biggest fundraisers, pre-war, were always for cancer and for animals, so raising money for cancer is an issue that is dear to their heart,” added Ms Casey.

This year’s Westport Relay for Life will take place on the South Mall in Westport on Saturday, 18 May.

All proceeds raised from this weekend’s event will go towards the Irish Cancer Society.

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You can support Relay For Life via the Irish Cancer Society website.