By Pepper Parr
May 15th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
The community is going to have to get used to supporting those Ukrainians who arrive in Canada for some time.
Most arrive with their papers and a single suitcase with children in tow.
Canada may accept as many as 10,000 refugees, some will stay and become Canadian citizens.
For the immediate future we are going to have to give them the essentials, support them while they adapt and adjust.
And that requires federal support, provincial support, municipal support and cold hard cash that can be handed out.
Saturday afternoon a small crowd filled barely half of the pews at St.Christophers xxx Church on Guelph Line to listen to:
Jeff Madden, who starred as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys and Kevin in the ensemble cast of Come From Away, showed was a consummate professional can do. Andrea Battista is a violinist with the Burlington Symphony Orchestra and Chair of the Burlington Arts and Culture Council of Burlington accompanied Jeff Madden on the piano.
Cozens playing the accordion while Maier actually got a pleasant sound out of a saw.
Charles Cozens and Colin Maier are the duo, JoyRide. Cozens, a renown accordionist performed while Maier, who plays 14 different instruments, including a household saw bought at a Home Hardware store. He pulled an interesting version of Ava Maria out of the piece of metal and a bow string.
A young child plucks out a tune with members of a six part ensemble.
GuZheng Group presents young people on the Chinese Zither, a harpsichord-like instrument. Dressed in traditional costumes, this ensemble is amazing to watch.
Several Ukrainian churches have pulled together a choir to perform.
A Bandura duo performed on the traditional Ukrainian lute-like instrument.
The closing act was the the young company of the Tyrsa Ukrainian Dancers. They make your blood run faster.
A young woman playing the Zither.
The event raised $1500 – every little bit counts.
The audience was asked to remain masked during the performances
There will be other events – and in time, when the Ukrainians fighters prevail and the Russians leave the country – the world will have to pull together and help rebuild the country. The devastation is almost beyond imagination.
Right now we have to take care of the people who have arrived in Canada.
The Saturday event was put on by One Burlington in co-operation with the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God.
One Burlington has been presenting events since 2017. It is dedicated to bringing people together to learn more about each other to create understanding and acceptance. Their website is at oneburlington.net
It was a lovely venue..should have been better attended…perhaps Saturday afternoons are not the best times when the weather is finally improving…only knew about it through the Gazette.