Central Ohio baker raising funds for Ukraine

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – As the federal government prepares to send more defense supplies to Ukraine, some central Ohioans are doing what they can to help, raising awareness and money in several different ways.

One of those Ohioans has started raising money through her baking.

Masha Downing’s effort started about a week ago and she has already exceeded her $1,000 goal.

Downing is the owner and baker of Pechka Bakery, and she is doing the fundraising on top of her full-time job.

Pechka Bakery started out of Downing’s home near the end of 2020. Usually, Downing fulfills a few orders a week for Eastern European sweets, but her fundraising for Ukraine has her doing much more.

“This week, it will be around 300,” she said.

For the month of March, all of the cookie proceeds are going to humanitarian efforts helping Ukrainians.

With close ties to the region, Downing said she felt the need to help, with her mother being Ukrainian and her father being Russian.

“Obviously a lot is going on in the world,” she said. “I have family from both Ukraine and Russia and honestly, that’s not a unique thing, not at all. Russian language is kind of a unifier, lots of Ukrainians also speak Russian and with everything going on, I wanted to do something.”

Downing said her cousins in Russia have been arrested for protesting in the past and her uncle has basically lost his job because of the sanctions. They’ve left the country. Her mother’s family is from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, and she also has relatives in Kyiv. They’ve all fled the country as the attacks continue.

“With everything going on, I wanted to do something,” she said.

So far, Pechka Bakery has raised nearly $1,200 through the sale of more than 500 cookies.

“I feel really guilty,” Downing said about being in the United States while her family members remain in eastern Europe. “It’s a weird kind of guilt that I’m not there with my family going through everything, so it’s just a little something I could do.”

For more on how to order from the bakery, click here. Proceeds from Pechka Bakery’s sales will benefit World Central Kitchen and Razom For Ukraine.