Food Co-op staffer organizes community to give big for Ukraine

You may or may not know Amy Sible.

Either way, there is a very good chance you have seen her around; she is the Skagit Valley Food Co-op’s mercantile manager and she celebrated her 13th Co-op work anniversary in June.

Either way, it should be no surprise that her love language is gift-giving—there’s a reason Mercantile has been voted Best Gift Shop in Skagit.

Sible carefully selects items in Mercantile with you and your gift recipients in mind.

She also doles out amazing freebies to fellow employees and contributes to online, in-store and staff giveaways with great enthusiasm.

And so, this next sentence shouldn’t surprise you either: “Sible connected with friends, family, co-workers and Co-op vendors to donate over $10,000 worth of supplies to Ukrainians in need.”

One person, one amazing collaborative effort and a whole lot of heart(s). People like Sible are the reason we’re all here. She doesn’t wear a cape, but here’s the superheroine’s story in her own words:

When the recent war in Ukraine began, I, like many others, followed the horrific news closely. I’m not sure if it was the way that media let us into the story on a first-hand account, where watching the grotesque videos made me feel like I was actually experiencing it, or if it was because I knew that my family was from that general area, but I felt more connected than I had to any other war before.

I reached out to my brother and asked him to tell me all about our family’s history. I knew we were from Eastern Europe, but that was about it. I learned that my paternal grandfather was born in a small village called Chaslivsti. Because it sits near the border, over the past 105 years, it has been a part of Hungary, Slovakia and now Ukraine.

Then, I came across a news article, featuring Magdalena’s Bistro and Creperie, a Ukrainian-owned, Polish restaurant in downtown Fairhaven, in Bellingham, where I live. The owner, Magdalena, had organized a weekly donation drive in an effort to send aid to Ukraine and I felt the need to help, but I felt helpless that I personally couldn’t do a lot to make a big difference.

Realizing I had a community much larger than I thought, I decided to reach out and ask for help. Turns out, I have a lot of connections through my job as a buyer for the Co-op’s Mercantile gift shop and have made some great relationships with my reps over the past 13 years, so I began putting feelers out to see if they had interest in donating supplies. From there, I put a flyer by the Co-op time clock for co-workers and also contacted friends and family.

The most common reply was, “I’ve been wanting to help, but didn’t know how.” Donations poured in from many of the brands that the Co-op works with, including Smartwool, Darn Tough, Maggie’s and Vim & Vigr socks, Norpro can openers, Aloha Bay and Goodlight candles, Peepers reading glasses and Kikkerland rain ponchos, lights and cutlery.

One of the sock brands we carry in Mercantile, Socksmith, sent a heartfelt email about their intent to help, by donating 5,000 pairs of socks. In my reply to say thank you, I learned they were still looking for a way to get actual product to Ukraine and needed help with logistics. So, I put our rep in contact with Liza Mahler, who is a volunteer for Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine Washington and Socksmith sent 5,000 pairs of socks, to be shipped by a plane company called Meest, to Ukraine.

Co-workers, family and friends all came together and donated tourniquets, survival kits, first aid supplies, tactical knee pads, tents, sleeping bags, personal hygiene, protein powder, baby food, headlamps and lanterns on their own dime.

The great thing was, no amount was too little and it was important to me to relay that message. While some had the ability to purchase larger items, others simply donated a box of band-aids or a tube of toothpaste – and it all added up, to an astonishing amount of just over $10,000 worth of supplies. And that was just for our first donation!

Since then, I have been able to gather donations on a much smaller scale, but the point is that our little bit, adds on to others’ donations, to keep giving big.

Organizing and transporting the donations to Magdalena’s was quite the task. Our living room was in a state of chaos for a few weeks, but my husband and two daughters helped me wrap my head around all that we were doing and shared in the workload. Our friends helped us load everything into their truck and we all had the wonderful opportunity to meet Magdalena Theisen and her husband Greg (who, in a crazy turn of events happens to be the brother of Tom Theisen, Skagit Valley Food Co-op’s Board President), Liza from Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine Washington and many of their friends from Ukraine. Like I said, a community much larger than I thought.

Long after this war is over, there will be refugees without homes to return to, ones that have since moved to another country and are starting over and those dealing with debilitating injuries and the grief that comes with horrific loss. The sad thing is, this isn’t concentrated to just those experiencing this particular war. There are wars all over the world. And as we have seen, atrocious events in our own country, state and town.

It is common to give a lot of yourself in the beginning of tragic events, but then it eventually dies down and fades away until the next one inevitably happens. Standing up for what is important to you and giving when you can, makes all the difference – and can make a bigger impact than you think.