Did you know that by 1960, Cleveland was the city with the world’s second largest number of speakers of Polish, next to Poland’s capital city of Warsaw? And so many people of other Slavic nationalities also immigrated to northern Ohio because of its plentiful jobs that the region was for some time known for being the birthplace of 10% of all foreign-born Americans of Slavic origin. In the 1990s, Ohioans even elected one of those Americans as their governor: George Voinovich, of Serbian and Slovenian heritage.
The Slavs that most interest us Americans right now, of course, are the Ukrainians. Those brave Ukrainians, heroically struggling to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hands off their democratic, Western-looking country. And now Fayette Countians have the opportunity to attend a local fundraising event that will help some of the several million Ukrainian refugees—mostly women, young children, and the elderly—who have fled their bombed-out towns.
Washington C.H.’s First Presbyterian Church, located across from the post office at the corner of Market and Hinde streets, will offer after church on Sunday, March 27 a free community lunch that will feature the cuisine of a culture new to most of us: Ukraine, the former “breadbasket” of the former Soviet Union.
Generous donations are encouraged, with proceeds going to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s program supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Try something totally different for lunch on the last Sunday of this month. The hours are planned for noon-2 p.m., with a cultural demonstration around 1 p.m. on pysanka egg decorating by the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio (Ukrainian Easter eggs are famous worldwide.)
Carry-out will also be available. The church telephone number is 740-335-2067.
