Queue of hundreds snakes through streets for Ukrainian's bakery fundraiser in Glasgow
Not for tickets, the latest must-have purchase, or to meet a celebrity. At the head of this queue was a popular Ukrainian-owned bakery – popular, but never normally this so.
The fundraiser in Glasgow yesterday perfectly told the story of a public’s desire to help Ukrainians in need.
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Hide AdOn a rare sunny day in the city, the doors of the small bakery swung open on to a stampede.
Deanston Bakery, which is normally shut on Sundays, saw musicians, small businesses and other volunteers step up to offer their support as crowds of people came to donate.
"I felt a bit helpless. I thought that there’s a lot of things I can’t do but this is a thing I can do, I can help people out.” Ukrainian baker Yuriy Kachak told reporters as he explained why he decided to open his business.
Mr Kachak said all proceeds raised on this day will go to help those affected by the war in Ukraine, with the money likely to be shared between various charities.
So far, the event has raised £25,000, according to an Instagram post thanking those who donated.
One musician set up outside the bakery armed with a mic, bagpipes and a guitar.
Singing How Great Thou Art, Davey Hay told people queuing he was doing so as he heard Ukrainians underground were singing hymns.
"We saw the advert on Facebook and we contacted Yuriy who runs this place and asked ‘Do you want some music?’ and he said, ‘That would be lovely.’" , Mr Hay said, “So I’ve got the bagpipes there and we started off with the Ukrainian national anthem and we’ve been going on since 11am.
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Hide Ad"I can’t believe the amount of people that have come here and the amount of money people are so generous to give to people who need it the most.
"It’s great the whole world is getting together and we just pray the governments try and work together so the pain lessens for so many.”
The bakery saw a large queue stretch out across various streets in Shawlands which only grew as the day went on despite cakes and other bakes running out.
"People are happy to wait two hours knowing that baking had run out but they are very happy to donate and buy raffle tickets,” said one woman in the area.
From the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine, Mr Kachak has lived in the UK for 19 years and moved to Scotland four years ago.
While his close family are in the UK, the father of two is shocked and angry about what is happening in his homeland, where he still has distant relatives.
Mr Kachak, who lives in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, said: “My first reaction was shock and disbelief, I just could not believe it was actually happening but the more the days go on it turns to anger.
“There is anger because this should not be happening.”
He added: “Where we are from it’s not as bad as in eastern Ukraine but people are very very scared.
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Hide Ad“Where I come from there have not been active gunshots but people are directed to shelters all the time, in the evening people aren’t allowed to use any lights, they are in total darkness, a lot of them are spending their time in the cellar.”
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