A family from the USA made and sold thousands of candles in blue and yellow colors, and donated all the money they earned to charity. "Ukrainian" candles of a small company from Wisconsin were bought by people from all states of America. In addition to dozens of volunteers, the owners of the company worked tirelessly on their production. Among them are three generations of Ukrainian emigrants. Now the candle workshop also makes trench candles for the Ukrainian military.
At the small Wisconsin-based Door County Candle Company, its owner, Christiana Trapani , has been pouring blue-and-yellow wax into glass jars almost every day since the full-scale war in Ukraine began. "It's a 2-3 day process to make a candle. First, we pour the yellow strip, it should harden for at least 8 hours, and then we add the blue," says Christiana.Previously, only six people worked in Christiana's business. When the war began, an American woman of Ukrainian origin decided to sell yellow and blue candles and give all the profits to help Ukraine. The volume of work increased so much that Christiana's entire family had to work without days off. In particular, Christiana's 83-year-old grandmother, Lyuba Derkach , a Ukrainian who left for the United States during World War II, helps.
Christiana's father, Yurii Gorchynskyi , works as an emergency doctor, but since spring he also quickly mastered the candle business. All the time after the main job and on weekends, he worked in the candle workshop. Volunteers also started coming to help. "People from different states just wanted to help. They came to us, introduced themselves and said, 'What can I do?' from Minnesota, and from Illinois, there were even people who came from California just to help us," Yuriy said.
Neither Christiana nor her family expected such a great demand for candles. "We've already made over 85,000 of these candles in less than a year, and our business usually only makes 12,000 candles a year. And we delivered these candles to every state of the USA, including Canada," said Christiana.
From the sale of yellow and blue candles at $30 each, Christiana managed to raise more than $850,000. She handed them over to the "Razom for Ukraine" charitable foundation.
Yurii Gorchynskyi recalls: "At first, when the war started and Christiana started this project, we did not think that it would be something large-scale. She wanted to transfer about 5 thousand dollars to Razom for Ukraine. And then it just "exploded". So it "exploded" that 5,000 dollars had been transferred a long time ago, and much more had already been transferred."
Now the demand for Ukrainian candles has become a little less, but the Door County Candle Company plans to raise $1 million by the anniversary of the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. The Razom for Ukraine fund admits that they did not expect that a small candle company would become one of the biggest benefactors. "It's a wonderful story that really impresses me. What happened: one person had a few candles and thought, maybe I'll sell them and be able to contribute to Ukraine. Maybe a thousand dollars. And people reacted like this!" - said Dora Khomyak, president of Razom for Ukraine.
With the onset of winter, the volunteers decided to send a batch of trench candles to Ukraine. Christiana tested the production several times before finding a good option. Now, each candle made by the company in a tin mold can give at least 50 hours of light. Trench candles were also made at the expense of ordinary candles purchased by the Americans. More than 2,000 candles have already been sent to Ukraine, and more are planned, Dora Khomyak said: "They will go to hot spots, to the front lines, so that people who need them have access to light, but they will also go all over America. This gives people here the opportunity to connect to the cause in Ukraine, it is also important that the candle and light go to Ukraine, but the spiritual light goes to America. A person who buys here connects himself to a quick victory."
Every candle that Christiana's company sends to Ukraine has a handwritten note with wishes from the Americans.
Yurii Gorchynsky admits that his family cannot hold back tears when reading the notes: "Many people write in English that they are with Ukraine, that they are praying for Ukraine, and say that Ukraine will win, and that it will be a victory of good over evil. Some notes are so touching, you want to cry when you read them."
Handing candles to Ukraine, Christiana also feels particularly emotional. She herself has not been to Ukraine yet, but she really wants to come to the places where her grandmother was born, and she believes in winning as soon as possible: "We touched these candles, we made them, and they are going to Ukraine. It is always very emotional to know that it will help people. When I work on them, I cry every day."
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