KIND-hearted North Berwick residents have stepped forward to raise awareness of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Susan Cameron, 55, owner of Echo Beach Designs, has created ceramic sunflower hearts, with most of the proceeds being sent to charity Sunflower of Peace.
In under a week, Susan has raised £6,000 and sold 1,000 hearts, smashing her original goal of £1,000.
She came up with the idea after winning a small business award in Birmingham from Theo Paphitis.
On the drive back, she was “buzzing” with ideas and thought that she should do something to help the cause in Ukraine.
She said: “I came away from the ceremony buzzing full of ideas. Because I do the sunflower pattern already, I knew that I could maybe do something.
“I had about 130 hearts already left over from Christmas and I thought I’ll paint some of them and see what happens.”
After painting them, she put them on social media but could not believe the “amazing” reaction from the community.
She said: “People were horrified and are still horrified with what’s happening and they wanted to do something, but they didn’t know what to do and I think the timing of my post must just have fit.
“It shows everybody has pulled together massively, there’s one lady that’s helped me this week, that’s come round for three days.
“There’s a mass of empathy from North Berwick, it’s been amazing.”
Meanwhile, knitted hearts in the colours of the Ukrainian flag have been popping up across North Berwick. The hearts were created by passionate knitter Pat Christie.
She said: “I’m 73 and I’ve been knitting since I was seven.
“If I’m sitting, I’m knitting.
“I knit for various charities and I just came up with the idea that I would knit a heart in these colours.
“Let’s put them about and give people a wee bit awareness of what’s going on and show some support for the Ukrainians.”
Pat has always tried to blend her passion for knitting with important causes and wanted to use her skill to highlight the situation in Ukraine.
She said: “I think the more it’s highlighted, even if it is just with things like the hearts, it’s making people aware that there’s something out there that they could maybe do to help.
“I hope everyone can gather together and do as much as they can for these people.”
Give Love Keep, a local charitable business that sells planet-friendly home goods, has also put together a raffle hamper worth £185, with all proceeds going to the British Red Cross appeal for Ukraine.
Norma Maynard, 55, owner of Give Love Keep felt that something had to be done and was thankful to John Skillen at Sweet News for helping promote the hamper.
She said: “I’m a mother and my heart breaks to see what’s going on.
“I felt I needed to do something – I felt the need to help.
“[Sweet News] are selling the tickets for me, which is so lovely.
“John at Sweet News said that he’d kindly take my hamper in and help sell the raffle tickets.”
Tickets are £2 each and can be bought at Sweet News on North Berwick High Street until March 31, with a winner announced at a later date.
North Berwick Community Council has also shown its support for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine through a striking projection on the Lighthouse corner at the junction of High Street and Quality Street.
The image was famously used by an artist in Cardiff and depicts a crying eye within the Ukrainian flag.
The community council debated at its meeting whether the image was too political, but it was agreed unanimously that this was an “exceptional circumstance”.
Mairi Benson, community councillor, said: “I think this is a world crisis and I think it would be really relevant for everyone.”
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