Thanksgiving celebration for Ukrainian refugees in Sacramento

Thanksgiving celebration for Ukrainian refugees in Sacramento

UA House, in joint efforts with SOL Church, arranged the celebration of Thanksgiving for Ukrainian refugees! A Friendsgiving event for the huge Ukrainian community in Sacramento was hosted on November 26th, 2022.

For many of our guests, it was the First Thanksgiving in the US, and we were excited to welcome them. For our project ParaSOLka, it was crucial to creating an event where Ukrainian refugee and immigrant families could enjoy the celebration atmosphere. "It is our first Thanksgiving, and now we understand this celebration from another side," said Denys Hashpor, one of the guests at the event. He and his family had to leave their homeland and just about everything else behind. They're one of the thousands of refugees now rebuilding in California. "Now we are here and happy with the kind people around," said Denys.

The event gathered more than 400 people at the SOL Church, and it was a pleasure to share the holiday spirit by serving complimentary food and drinks, singing songs, and uniting in prayer for the future of Ukraine. "Most of them had a long, difficult way to get here, a lot of stressful days for them, but today we're helping them to have this peace, this celebration," said Vlad Skots, CEO of the Ukrainian American House.

Almost 20 thousand Ukrainian people fled from war to the US this year, and many refugees settled in California, especially in the Sacramento area. Now Sacramento is known to have the largest Ukrainian community in the state. UA House's goal is to help those people to adapt to the new life, provide them with essential assistance and information, and make families feel at home, even being 6,000 miles away from it.

Many thanks to everyone who made this event possible and to those who joined us that Saturday evening!