Cafe Ukraine, Dollar. Scotland
The story so far
Cafe Ukraine came out of a single idea - to host a fundraising cafe for Clackmannanshire's growing Ukrainian refugee community on St Andrew's Day 2002. Since then, our activities have grown, and we have formalised into a not for profit Community Interest Company CIC). But we remain a small volunteer only initiative, and forever need new volunteers and new ideas..
Below is a list of what we have done to date. Help us keep it going by getting involved.
Email us at: info@cafeukraine.org.uk
St Andrew's Day Cafe 2022
This pop up St Andrew's Day cafe was the first event Cafe Ukraine hosted
The fundraising cafe was assisted by children's disability charity, Play Alloa, a charity which also hosts a weekly drop in center for Ukrainian refugees. Many of these refugees assisted by baking cakes for the cafe and helping serve teas and coffees. Dollar Academy also assisted by providing a piper. Over £500 was raised for Play Alloa anf its Ukraine Club
Our St Andrew's Day cafe got extensive coverage in the Alloa Advertiser - the front page - and pages 2 and 3 !
Winter Aid for Kharkiv Appeal
Cafe Ukraine acted as a drop off point in East Clackmannanshire for the already established Clackmannanshire Ukraine Support appeal , working out of Alloa for the beseiged Ukranian city of Kharkiv in the winter of 2022-23.
The appeal was highly successful and 3 full van loads of aid were collected from residents of Dollar, Muckhart and nearby communities. The sucess of the appeal saw Cafe Ukraine established as a long term drop off point for ongoing aid to Ukraine
Burns Day 2023
As a follow up to our successful St Andrews Day cafe , we hosted a similar pop up cafe on Burns Day 2023, 25th January
Haggis , neeps and tatties were on the menu this time, not Ukrainian cakes. And the Ukrainians attending so liked our haggis, they recommended it to the Ukrainian army.Out of this came our Haggis4Heroes appeal, more fully developed in Burns Day 2024. At our Burns Day cafe, we also found out Rabbie Burns share his birthday wirh President Zelenskyy!
Our Burns's Day cafe was reported in the Alloa Advertiser and supported and promoted by Dollar Parish Church and St James the Great Episcopalian Church in Dollar. And assisted by a generous donation of locally made haggis by local butcher's Brian Devlin
Emergency Baby Milk Appeal
This appeal was lunched in response to a critical shortage of powdered baby milk in Kharkiv
Posters were widely circulated across Clackmannanshire and dispatched to Ukraine by our partners TASH4Ukraine
Anniversary Commemorations
Cafe Ukraine supported the commemoration events in Dollar organised by the the local Ukrainian Refugee community and Dollar Parish Church to mark the 1st anniversary on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 22 February
We also supported and participated in an evening balloon lighting ceremony in nearby Alloa. Details
Prayer Breakfast
Cafe Ukraine helped Ukrainian Baptist Minister, Yuro Kamaran, promote his Prayer Breakfast, an initiatve open to allm and supported by Dollar Parish Church
The event was well attended by Ukrainian refugees and long standing Dollar residents , and raised £300 for the Ukraine Unbroken appeal, aimed at assisting disabled victims of the conflict in Ukraine...The Alloa Advertiser reported on the initiative.
St Patrick's Day Cafe
As St Patrick's Day 2023 fell on a Friday, and clashed with the regular community cafe hosted by Dollar Parish Church, we joined forces and co-hosted a cafe in Dollar's Burnside Hall.
This followed our plan to host "saints day" cafe's all through 2023. A cafe on St David's Day was not practical, as it was too close to the anniversary of the Russian invasion
Cafe Ukraine Established as a CIC
1st April 2023 saw Cafe Ukraine established as a Community Interest Company (CiC) Though we remain a not for profit group ran entirely by volunteers, this formal status allows us to apply for the various grants available to Community Interest Companies and qualify for advice and support from the Community Enterprise support organisations in Scotland...
Cafe Ukraine's "asset lock" is the Scottish Refugee Council, meaning on the wind up of Cafe Ukraine, all our assists will transfer to the Scottish Refugee Council
St George's Day Cafe
The said it couldn.t be done...but, yes, we did! Host a Cafe Ukraine in the heart of Scotland on England's national day. And the traditional English Cream Teas we served up with home backed scones, strawberry jam, and fresh creams proved popular - not just with Ukrainians but with the long term locals
And the cafe took place in the sunshine, leading to the establishment of smaller scale Cafe Ukraine's during Dollar's spectacular cherry blossom season, with the cafe benefiting from overlooking the best of the blossom on Dollar's Burnside. Similar small scale cafes took place all through the summer of 2023.
Welly Boot Appeal
In the wake of the extensive flooding in and around Kherson caused by the deliverate breach of the Nova Kakhova Dam by the Russians, Cafe Ukraine launched a "Welly Boot" appeal aimed at supplying dry footwear to affected residents in the area
The appeal was well supported and got positive coverage in the Alloa Advertiser
Sunflower Sales
With the sunflower Ukraine's national flower, Cafe Ukraine grew sunflower seedlings and sold them to passers by to raise funds and awareness of the war in Ukraine
Over 100 sunflowers were sold, and the few that we not were left to grow, outside the cafe, giving it a distinctly Ukrainian look all through the summer
Summer Galas
Cafe Ukraine has an active presence at Dollar and at Menstrie Summer Galas. Plant sales were popular. but most popular were our mini Ukrainian flags, especially at Menstrie, where the entire gala was themed around the sunflower and welcoming Ukranian refugees to the village. Cafe Ukraine was honoured to be there.
Angus Roxburgh Talk
Verteran BBC Moscow correspondant, Angus Roxburgh, was invited to Dollar in December by the Dollar Historical Society to give a talk on "Putin and the Ukraine".. We teamed up with the Society to help it promote the lecture, and it turned out one of the best attended Dollar Historical Society events in many years.
Cafe Ukraine would like to thank Dollar Historical Society for donating the collection taken on the night to Ukraine, and Cafe Ukraine has forwarded the collection to TASH4Ukraine to assist with its transport costs taking material aid to Ukraine
Christmas Wreaths For Ukraine
Cafe Ukraine learned wreath making skills from local teacher Karen, and set up a St Andrews Day 2023, production line, not just to make Christmas Wreaths for Ukraine for public sale, but to commemorate Cafe Ukraine's first Anniversary.
The Chritsmas wreaths, hand made from local products, proved highly popular at the Dollar Winter Festival, and we sold every one of them with over an hour of the festival still to run. Thanks to everyone who made this initiative such a success including Dollar Scouts, who gave us use of their hall to make the wreaths. The wreath making initiative was covered by The Alloa Advertiser
Haggis4Heroes
This is our latest initiative, launched in January 2024,
The initiative is ongoing and can best be followed through out dedicated website haggis4heroes.org
Already the appeal has attracted considerable media coverage, and has even featured on the BBC.
Join Up In January
Cafe Ukraine participated in Dollar Community Development Trust's "Join up in January" event in January 2024, an event giving the town's volunteer groups the opportunity to explain to local people what they did and how they could become involved. Feedback was positive and we hope to see new people becoming involved in our activities in 2024
Cafe Ukraine would like to thank Dollar Community Development Trust for its support and encouragement over is 14 months of operation The trust has even lent us their tables and chairs, without which our pop up cafes would not be possible
2nd Anniversary Solidarity Events
Cafe Ukraine had an all day presence at the main solidarity events in Edinburgh to mark the second anniversary of the Russian invasion. Our group were also present at the commemorations in Dundee.
Excellent contacts were made with a whole range of groups and organisations working to assist Ukraine, and Cafe Ukraine intends to follow these up over the coming months