Bottle drive collecting donations to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine

Helping outfit Ukrainian newcomers Edmonton store offers new wardrobes to Ukrainian newcomers calling the city home. Alison MacKinnon explains.

A week-long bottle drive in Edmonton is collecting donations to support humanitarian and military aid efforts in Ukraine.

The bottle drive was organized by six groups out of the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in north Edmonton.

“This period over the last two weeks has been marred with a feeling of uncertainty and helplessness to a degree so bottle drives like this are really helping people make an act of contribution to the cause,” said Vasyl Yavorskyy, the vice president of the Ukrainian Youth Association.

The groups partnered with the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation and Friends of the Ukrainian Defense Forces Fund for the drive.

People wanting to donate can drop off their bottles at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex at 96 Street and 153 Avenue or at a participating bottle depot in the city until March 17.

“We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response here, we’re about two days in now and we’ve already filled five U-Haul trucks,” said Yavorskyy.

The bottle drive doesn’t have a fundraising goal, they’re just trying to raise as much money for Ukraine as they can, added Yavorskyy.