Local support for Ukraine continues
What started as a social media post of Mike Pawk pouring out bottles of Russian vodka in support of Ukraine has evolved into a fundraising effort earning tens of thousands of dollars for relief charities.
An event at the Lyndora Hotel on Saturday put the money raised for the Pittsburgh-based Brother’s Brother Foundation over $40,000 — an amount Pawk, one of the owners of the Lyndora Hotel, said gave him an “unexplainable” feeling.
“It has been great,” he said. “It has brought a lot of pride out of people, and I saw that in the two fundraisers we have had.”
Saturday’s event at the Lyndora Hotel resembled a block party, where guests could get food prepared by members of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on the first floor, and then go to the second floor to bet on raffle baskets and hear live music, played throughout the day. Pawk said the owners scheduled the event after its previous fundraiser for Ukraine on March 9 received such a huge response that they had to turn people away.
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