Smoky Lake Inn owners hold fundraiser for Ukrainians with the Beatles Revival band.

By Irene van der Kloet

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, many individuals, businesses and agencies offered help to Ukrainians. Fundraisers were set up; items were collected and shipped to Ukraine to help the needy Ukrainians. Since the start of the war, Ukrainians have come to Canada to find a safe haven here. Five families have found a safe place in Smoky Lake at the Smoky Lake Inn. To further help them, Brian and Leesa Jones, owners of the Smoky Lake Inn,  set up a fundraiser for them on August 12 and 13: the Beatles Revival band All You Need is Love from Calgary performed two nights with a portion of the proceeds going directly to the Ukrainians staying at the Inn. Brian and Leesa contacted the Ukrainian Canadian Congress at the start of the war to offer the rooms in their hotel for free to Ukrainian refugees for long enough to get everybody a foothold so they could start making it on their own. In April, the first families began arriving, followed by others in the subsequent weeks. “Initially, we were going to offer one month for free, but some have been there for two or three months, and we are still not charging them rent. They are working at the Inn. Most of them are happy to do the work, even though it is not what they were trained for and is different from the work they used to do in Ukraine”, Leesa explains.

Not long ago, Brian and Leesa had seen the Beatles revival band at a fundraiser in Morinville, and they liked it. That sparked the idea to do a similar fundraiser in Smoky Lake, so they asked. Once it was confirmed, they set up the ticket purchasing process through Ticketpro, which made it easier to trace the proceeds: Ticketpro split up the proceeds of every ticket into a $10 fundraiser, then taxes and the cost of the band, sent the package to Brian and Leesa with all accounting documents. This Beatles revival turned into a tremendous two-night event at the Inn that was very well received by the public. All night long, the band played Beatles music, dressed like the Beatles (complete with wigs to make them look more like John, Paul, George and Ringo) and sounding like the Beatles. Many guests took the opportunity to dance. Before the band started playing, there was a silent auction, the proceeds going to the Ukrainians. Some guests did not purchase anything at the silent auction but donated money for a good cause. The funds will be split five ways; every family gets one-fifth of the proceeds. The guests prepared a Ukrainian meal available for purchase (not part of the fundraiser). The Beatles Revival band members pitched in for the fundraiser as well: Normally, they charge mileage, but they asked that Brian and Leesa add the money they would otherwise be paid for mileage to the fundraiser. There has been some confusion about the newcomers: Some people thought Brian and Leesa were bringing Russians in; this was probably because many Ukrainians speak Ukrainian but also speak Russian because they were under Russian (Soviet) rule until 1991 and because some of them lived not far from the Russian border. Russian and Ukrainian are Slavic languages and may sound similar. Organizing a fundraiser like this is quite a bit of work, but Brian and Leesa managed to do it in a month. A large portion of the work was to build the stage, which they have owned for many years but never used. Now that the stage is there to stay behind the Inn, there is hardly a limit to what they can do when inviting musicians. Their next fundraiser will be on September 4 with Martin Kerr.