Morden's 9-year-old Creston Warkentin was driving back from Altona with his grandma one day, after playing chess with another boy at Regional Connections, when he told her he was leaning toward an idea he had. Thinking it was something about chess, she pressed Creston for more details.

"I was thinking (about) how I wanted to help Ukraine, and thinking about how much money I had, and how much they needed it more than I did," explained Creston. "Then I just wanted to donate $10 because I was like, 'Why not? They need it more than I do'."

Adding to his $10, Creston's six-year-old sister, Everest, gave $7.

"Then my mom suggested I do more," he noted. "And then we came up with this idea of getting plants and planting them, and then asking people if they want to donate, and then we give them a plant, if they want one...we raised over $1,100. I'm pretty proud of myself because my $10 started this."

In total, Creston and Everst raised $1,104.35, and are donating it to Deasil Custom Sewing Inc (DCSI) and Help-Ukraine - Morden and Pembina Valley - to help make medical bags to send to Ukraine.

"...and then the people can carry them on their backs or on their belts. If they see somebody that's hurt, or if they're hurt, they can help them or help themselves," explained Creston.

During a recent tour of the Deasil facility, Creston and Everest learned their donation paid for 85 medical bags. 

Nataliya Sukhetskaya designed the prototype for medical bags being shipped to Ukraine

President of Deasil, Cheryl Digby, shared how heart wrenching it was to hear about the war in Ukraine, with many of her staff immigrants from Ukraine themselves, with family still living there and participating in efforts to protect their country. The leadership at Deasil wanted to do something to help, and to give their staff a chance to take part in supporting their homeland in a meaningful way. And so, when they were approached by Help-Ukraine to make medical bags to send to Ukraine for the military to use, and to make Ukrainian flags to sell for donations, they took the opportunity to support the cause.

"It's heartwarming to see the community spirit, how our suppliers and their other partners are coming together to help us to make this vision become a reality so that we can get these bags off to Ukraine as economically and expeditiously as possible," said Digby. "One of our staff members (Nataliya Sukhetskaya) designed the bags. We had no idea how complex the bags would be or the requirements that would go into sourcing the fabrics, but we threw it at one of our staff members and she rose to the task, and did an incredible job."

Digby said the support and donations, like the one from Creston and Everest, really mean a lot.

"We've seen a lot of tears, so it's obvious that it means a lot to them (the staff). It means a lot that we bring in volunteers, and when I told them about these two young children, I showed them the video the other day at coffee time, we had some tears. When I told them that they were coming (and that) they had raised some money, we didn't know how much, we had tears again. It's very emotional for them. At times they're very stoic and at other times, quite emotional."

The first shipment of bags left for Ukraine on Saturday, April 2nd with more being shipped the following week and weeks ahead. Donations to cover the costs are gratefully accepted.