St. Nicholas Celebration in Ottawa: A Magical Fairytale for Ukrainian Children

On December 7th, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ottawa hosted a warm and truly magical St. Nicholas celebration.

The event was made possible with the support of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services (UCSS) and its chair, Maryna Popovych. The artistic director of the project was Tetiana Fomina, the scriptwriter whose vision guided nearly a month of intense preparations and rehearsals.

Thanks to people with kind hearts, a sincere desire to create a miracle for young Ukrainians, and the collective efforts of volunteers, we were able to realize this wonderful charitable initiative filled with light, joy, and faith in fairy tales ✨

A huge thank you to our volunteer actors! Special gratitude goes to Mykhailo Rynzak—thanks to you, the children truly believed in the magic. We sincerely thank the young actors of the "Kryla" (Wings) Theater: Arseniy Fomin, Polina Vinskovska, Kateryna Plekhova, Yehor Yehorov, Alina Poplavska, Roman Burtik, and Ivan Yehorov—for their talent, sincerity, and love for children.

Thank you to Tetiana Pantsiuk for creating the decorations that provided a true festive atmosphere.

Our great pillar of support remains the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ottawa. We sincerely thank Father Taras Kinash for his spiritual support and hospitality, and Olha Kinash for her excellent organization and promotion of the event.

Thank you to the volunteers who helped with audience coordination: Kira Khrustlova, Oleksii Sychkov, and Matvii Kinash.

A special thank you to our photographers—Natasha Popovych and Oleg Mikulich—for capturing the precious moments of this magical day 📸

To make the holiday truly delicious, we thank: Oksana Kavera and Svitlana Shlomina, Ivanna Ostrovska for the wonderful "Mykolaichyky" treats, Olha Hulevych for the gingerbread, and Olha Honcharova for the cupcakes.

We also sincerely thank the children's choir and director Yuliia Makarenko for their beautiful voices and festive spirit 🎶

✨ Together we can create real miracles! Thank you to everyone who joined us and gave the children joy and faith in kindness 💙💛