Winnipeg dance group shipping body armour to Ukraine

A Winnipeg dance group’s effort to send body armour to Ukraine has proven to be successful.

Zolowto Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and Company are acting as the middle person getting former Winnipeg Police Service body armour to Winnipeg’s Ukrainian sister city, Lviv.

On March 9, its treasurer Scott Gordon met with Mayor Brian Bowman as the mayor offered his support to Ukrainian groups.

“We figured that through the city, there could be possibility or things that we couldn’t possibly get our hands on ourselves,” Gordon said in an interview with CTV News. “This was an opportunity that we had to take advantage of.”

A statement from Bowman’s office says there is an outpouring of support from Winnipeggers.

"Much of the dialogue I have had with Ukrainian Winnipeggers has been focused around the need to continue exploring options of support that could be sent to Ukraine,” Bowman said in an email to CTV News.

Gordon said he asked the city to “take a very hard look” to find possible emergency services department supplies.

“Some body armour is being circulated through Winnipeg Police Service, so older units are coming off the line,” Gordon said.

Out of a Winnipeg store Thursday morning - 126 former Winnipeg Police Service ballistic vests were shipped to Toronto as the shipment heads to Ukraine.

Geoff Gray, the owner of Urban Tactical, says they supply gear for the police, but this shipment was a first.

‘’I am very excited that we are able to be involved and to give this expired body armour a new home and offer protection to some of these people who may not have it,” Gray said in an interview with CTV.

The vests going to Lviv are expired – but Gray says that does not mean they won’t work.

‘’This body armour is still good,” Gray said. “It is still absolutely fine. It performs probably like it does on day one. But it starts to degrade over time.”

Gray says the vests had a five-year expiry date.

“This body armour can go to first responders who are firefighters and paramedics who are getting into that action and could use the protection while they are saving others or could be distributed to refugees trying to flee certain areas,” Gordon said.