Calgary family collects pasta donations for Ukraine

Family stocking up on a staple A Calgary family, seeking to do whatever they can to help Ukrainian refugees, is collecting piles of pasta. Tyson Fedor reports.

The Bishop family wanted to find a creative way to express their concern for those on the frontlines in Ukraine and decided that pasta was what was needed most.

Laura Bishop approached the Amigo Relief Missions in Edmonton and they asked for pasta instead of monetary donations.

“The faces and the stories remind us so much of ourselves and it's just really heartbreaking to know that their lives have just been changed overnight,” said Bishop.

Bishop and her two children Kate, 13, and Luc, nine, said the Russian invasion and destruction in Ukraine left them in tears, crying out for a way to help.

“I went to a group of my friends and said basically we need to get the word out, tell the school and collect as much as we can,” said Kate Bishop.

“These are kids just like me and my brother who had everything I had, just over a month ago and they were all stripped from that.”

The Bishops' garage is filling up with boxes of pasta, weighing hundreds of pounds.

But the family is hoping that a bigger call out to the community of Calgary can help fill a transport truck, to ship the goods to Ukraine.

The kids have asked for donations from their friends, and classmates at the Calgary French & International School.

“I walked in the first day and I came down the stairs and looked at the boxes and there was some all around and there was three feet overflowing of boxes and the response was just incredible,” said Kate.

For Grade 3 student Luc, he says he’s hoping to get donations from some of his soccer teammates.

“The people my age are getting kicked out of their homes, live in churches, in schools, anywhere that they can find,” he said.

He’s hopeful they can receive endless amounts of donations.

“Seeing the Ukrainian families' smiles on their faces when they get all the pasta,” he said.

The family is asking anyone wishing to donate to drop off donations in the lobby at Imperial Oil campus located at 505 Quarry Park Blvd. S.E.

The Bishops say they are collecting until May 6, and will then have donations shipped to locations in Quebec, Europe and Ukraine.