House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Ukrainian Fundraising Ukrainian Fundraising Ms HUTCHESSON House of Assembly Waite Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (15:22): Today, I would like to talk about an excellent example of how local community groups in my electorate of Waite and my colleagues here in government all came together to ensure that some vulnerable children got to get away from all they are experiencing to just have fun and be kids. On 24 February this year, we all looked on in horror as Vladimir Putin launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. Vision of decimated buildings, Ukrainians running for their lives and Russian military troops and planes invading Ukrainian territory was shocking. It was and still is heartbreaking to witness the death and destruction that continues to rage on. With over seven million people internally displaced and five million fleeing to neighbouring countries, it is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportion. We as a state government have been supporting the humanitarian crisis by providing medical equipment and safe passage to displaced Ukrainians. It is these new arrivals that this story is about. A few months ago, I joined my local community, mostly ladies, at a fashion parade that was raising funds to help the Association of Ukrainians in South Australia to help support these displaced mostly women and children. This fundraiser was organised by the Blackwood Action Group, which managed to raise over $6,700 and allowed our local businesses to show off their fashion. At the parade, I had the pleasure of meeting Diane Howarth, who volunteers at the Ukraine language school and does everything she can to support the Ukrainian community, being a Ukrainian herself. I asked Diane what else I could do to help, and she said she would come back to me. A few weeks ago, Diane got in touch with me to let me know that the language school was trying to send the newly arrived Ukrainian children on a school camp with the existing language students. She let me know that they could not afford to go, so they were trying to raise money to send them. Local community group, the Blackwood Circle of Friends, along with their national group, had come together to donate $5,000 towards the camp. Diane let me know that the children did not have any sleeping bags that they needed for the camp, so I suggested this was something I could help with. She also let me know they may need assistance with the cost of the buses to send the children away to camp. Thanks to the generosity of all my Labor colleagues, each committing their own money, we came together with the help of Anaconda stores and bought the children 40 sleeping bags. The children and their families were all very grateful to receive this gift and appreciated that the state government was there to support them. The buses were a different story. My community of Waite has some very active and generous community groups, so I knew if I asked they would come through with the help these children needed. The Rotary clubs of Blackwood and Coromandel Valley, the Adelaide Hills Zonta Club, and the Blackwood Lions all came together to provide the necessary funds for the buses to transport the children to the camp, away from the news from home so that they could just relax. Local artist Deanna Kernick, who runs mosaic classes in Blackwood, created an incredible mosaic depicting a beautiful sunflower. The piece was put up for auction and the bid was up to $500 when Deanna decided she would actually like to keep the artwork herself, so she made a bid of $550 and then donated that money to the association as well. What a beautiful gesture! We managed to raise funds necessary to buy all the sleeping bags and pay for the buses to send the children to the Glenhaven camp near Stockport. Last week, I was joined by the member for Hurtle Vale, the member for Gibson, the member for Torrens, and the Hon. Russell Wortley from the other place, to send off the children on the buses to the camp. Iryna Kvasniuk, one of the teachers from the school who organised the camp and gave so tirelessly in her help and support, was busy trying to shepherd the children onto buses that morning all whilst her own town of Ternopil, where she has family and friends still, had just been attacked in the last few days. Her resilience to keep going is a reflection of all Ukrainians in their battle for democracy and peace. It was an emotional morning, with some children never having experienced the excitement of going on camp before and with parents also excited but cautious at the same time. The children were looking forward to the adventure ahead and were happy to let me know that they were well equipped with lots of lollies to take with them as well. We waved them away knowing that so many people had come together to make it all happen. I am so proud of my local community and my colleagues for their generosity and compassion for these children who have been through so much already in their short lives. I hope that they had a wonderful time and I look forward to being able to support them in the future.