A 10-year-old Newmarket boy is channelling his fear and uncertainty surrounding the situation in Ukraine into good by making and selling buttons to raise funds for the Canadian Red Cross.
Jake Tubaro said that at the beginning of the month, he came home from school with a paper heart coloured blue and yellow, the colours of Ukraine.
“When he came home with the paper heart, he said, 'What can we do to help?' and I said, "Why don’t we order buttons and you can do these paper hearts and put them in the buttons and maybe some of our friends and family will get them,” mother Suzanne Cummings said.
Jake set a goal of raising $500 and that first night he made nine buttons. Cummings posted it to a local Facebook group and the following morning they had 89 orders. In about 24 hours, they had reached their original fundraising goal.
Jake's twin brother, Owen, and older brother, Nathan, 14, joined in and now the family sits together around the table making buttons and talking. Originally Suzanne was the one snapping buttons together by hand but after acquiring a button press, she has happily passed that task on to Nathan.
While they had never made buttons before, the boys said it has been easy to get the hang of.
Cummings said what has been difficult is talking about the Ukraine situation with her sons, as they had a lot of questions, especially Jake.
“I found that Jake was coming to us and saying, ‘Why are these kids with their moms with their backpacks, what’s in their backpacks, where are they going, where are they going to stay?’" she said. "Trying to explain it so they’re not scared that it’s going to happen here, because that was one of his big questions ... what if that happens here, what would I put in my backpack, where would we go, what would we do with our pets and trying to say to him, 'Oh that won’t happen here' wasn’t good enough. He wanted a plan where we would go. Another big question was why isn’t Canada or the U.S there fighting too."
Jake added his biggest question: "Why can't they just talk it out?"
As of March 12, the boys have raised $4,303 and Jake set a new fundraising goal of $5,500, which he said is "because it’s my favourite number and I think it’s lucky.”
There is no set price for the buttons and you can just donate what you can to receive one. Cummings has set up a Facebook group to take orders and to keep everyone updated on the campaign's progress. You can reach out to the family through the page and place your order here.
For those who have purchased a button, Jake said he wants everyone to wear them "until the war ends so that everyone knows who we’re standing by.”
