Longboat Island Chapel hosts Ukrainian Easter for refugees

The Danube International Company threw an Easter party on April 8 in the chapel's garden.

By Lesley Dwyer
| 9:50 a.m. April 10, 2023

Longboat Key
Neighbors

The Longboat Island Chapel rents their Friendship Garden to host weddings, memorials and birthday parties. On April 8, it was used to throw an Easter party for Ukrainian refugee children.

The rental fee was waived, and the charitable outreach committee donated $1,000 to the Danube International Company for supplies. There were cotton candy and popcorn machines. Games were set up on the lawn, and the trees were decorated with eggs just as they would be in Ukraine.

“As soon as they heard the kids and people speaking in Russian, their eyes lit up,” teacher Katie Jewett said. “All day long, they’re in school and we’re translating through our phones.”

Katerina Anokhova has two daughters, grades pre-K and second, that enrolled in elementary school last month. She saw the party advertised on Facebook and asked the school’s principal if there was anyone who could drive them to Longboat Key. Jewett and her sister drove the family down from Largo.

The celebration was an American Easter with a Slavic twist. It’s already warm in Florida, but it’s still cold in Ukraine. The tradition of hanging eggs in trees is to speed up the arrival of spring. Boris Tsatskin played Ukrainian music as the kids formed a conga line and danced through the garden, and each family left with a loaf of bread.

“It’s like a sweet bread that we bake with raisins and nuts because we fast for 40 days before Easter,” Danube Co-founder Olena Gryniava said. “Easter day, on Sunday, we go to church and we bless the bread. We get blessings from the priest, and then we start from this bread for our Easter dinner.”

About 40 children and 60 caregivers between North Port and St. Petersburg attended the party. Danube is headquartered in Sarasota but helps refugees from all over the country apply for social service benefits and restart their lives. For more information, call 727-644-4839.

Good egg Margo Semenchuk poses with the Easter Bunny.

Ilona Sakovich, Boris Tsatskin, Olena Gryniava, Margo Semenchuk and Nina Stetsenkp

Katerina Anokhova and Katie Jewett communicate using a translation app.

Michelle Ewing, Katerina and Valeria Anokhova, Katie Jewett and Elissa Anokhova traveled from Largo for the Easter party.

Olena and Scarlett Guidry pose with the Easter Bunny.

Families gather in the courtyard to eat popcorn and cotton candy.

The children gather around the lawn to meet the Easter Bunny and play games.

It's a Ukrainian tradition to decorate trees with eggs for Easter.

The kids raise their hands to play hopscotch.

Chapel helpers David Stone, Karen Pashkow and Lesley Rife

After their turn at hopscotch, the kids get a candy from the Easter Bunny.

Elissa Anokhova and Scarlett Guidry laugh between rounds of musical chairs.

Robbie Guidry looks for Easter eggs with his mom.

The kids go on an egg hunt around the garden.

Valeria Anokhova leads the Easter Bunny in the conga line.

author

Lesley Dwyer

Lesley Dwyer is a staff writer for East County and a graduate of the University of South Florida. After earning a bachelor’s degree in professional and technical writing, she freelanced for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Lesley has lived in the Sarasota area for over 25 years.