'It just snowballed': Manitoba town raises $18K and counting for Ukraine emergency aid

The River City Syncopators performed Saturday alongside a packed musical lineup for the Ukraine Support Concert. (Source:YouTube/Seeds Church Videos)

Winnipeg -

An Altona, Man. church was filled with music over the weekend to help fund emergency response efforts in Ukraine.

Organizer Callum Morrison, who lives just outside of the southern Manitoba town, got the idea while sitting at home, watching the horrors of the invasion unfold from afar. He has a friend in Ukraine, and wanted to do whatever he could to help.

“I'd seen that there were many concerts happening around the world, so I contacted my local pastor and asked if we could have the church,” Morrison told CTV News.

“Then I just sent an email to a lot of the people in the community I knew would perhaps be able to perform and then it just snowballed.”

Violinist Seolah Kim performed "You Raise Me Up" and "Thousand Winds" at Saturday's Ukraine Support Concert. (Image Source: Callum Morrison)

Morrison put together a lineup of musicians including vocalists, guitarists and keyboardists performing a mix of spiritual, jazz, folk and contemporary music.

A video message from Anton, Callum’s friend in Ukraine, was also played, thanking attendees for supporting the cause.

“When he actually first recorded his first draft, he had to stop 17 seconds in because the air raid sirens were going off,” Morrison said.

Organizer Callum Morrison is seen in this 2019 photo taken in Lviv, Ukraine with his friend Anton. (Image Source: Callum Morrison)

All proceeds for Saturday’s event went to Mennonite Central Committee’s Ukraine Emergency Response, which provides psychosocial support and trauma healing, temporary emergency housing and distribution of emergency supplies for those affected by the invasion.

The event itself raised $15,000. With corporate and local business donations, the fundraiser has now brought in $18,000.

Morrison hopes that number will continue to rise; donations are still being collected through the MCC’s website.

“Doing something like this concert was a way for me to turn this into sort of a positive thing, asking ‘what can I do?’ I think that was a far more beneficial and healthy thing to do, to turn negative feelings into something that can actually benefit people,” Morrison said.