MUSA Fundraising for Help Us Help the Children in Ukraine

For the third consecutive year, Montreal’s McGill Ukrainian Students’ Association (MUSA) has marked the anniversary of the Chornobyl Nuclear Disaster of April 26, 1986 by organizing a fundraising event in support of Help Us Help the Children.  Coffee was generously donated by Tim Horton’s and Java U Coffee and sales proceeds were directed by MUSA to projects helping children in Ukraine.

MUSA students sold coffee in the main library at McGill University at the downtown campus.  An information panel display was organized by MUSA regarding the Chornobyl Nuclear Disaster which drew the student body and general public to inquire about and discuss the lasting effects of Chornobyl on the population today.

Help Us Help the Children has its Canadian head office in Toronto.  Among the projects it spearheads is an annual summer camp for over 500 orphans from orphanages throughout Ukraine, held in the Carpathian Mountains and in Odesa.

Several McGill University students from the Ukrainian club are volunteering to work with orphaned children this July.  MUSA students, will be joining other university students from across Canada, all selected by Help Us Help the Children, to work in Ukraine.

As president of the McGill Ukrainian Students’ Association, Artem Luhovy, commented, “our club is very pleased that we have such wonderful annual sponsors as Javu U and Tim Horton’s coffee shops to help us organize these fundraising projects on McGill Campus.  By setting up a table in the library, MUSA is able to reach out to the university community and involve them in helping orphaned children. It is rewarding work for our club. Many of those with whom we spoke were very informed about the Chornobyl disaster and encouraged are efforts.”

MUSA has a membership of 250 students and organizes various events throughout the academic year.  This April, MUSA President Artem Luhovy was short-listed for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Young Alumni Award, “which recognizes a student in their final graduating year who has exhibited a consistent desire to promote student life during their time at McGill, such that the impact of their involvement has contributed to make a positive imprint on the fabric of the McGill community.”  MUSA recently helped organize the 50^th Congress of the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union (SUSK) at McGill University. The club’s advisor is Prof. Yarema Kelebay.