Warmth Stitched Across Borders
How a friendship between Rotarians in Arnprior and Kharkiv is helping bring warmth to people in Ukraine
Arnprior Rotarian Gerhard Peters shares the story behind the blanket project.
At the 2026 Ukrainian Festival in Carleton Place, members of the Rotary Club of Arnprior shared a story that connects their community with Kharkiv, Ukraine. A blanket made there can offer comfort to someone living without reliable heat. Making it also provides work and purpose for people in the city.
The connection began at the 2022 Rotary International Convention in Houston, where Arnprior Rotarian Gerhard Peters met Olga Lalovenko of the Rotary Club of Kharkiv Friends. Olga later came to Carleton Place with her two youngest children after a stay in a refugee camp in Poland. Through their conversations, Gerhard learned about her club's warm blanket project.
Made in Kharkiv, for Kharkiv
A local sewing enterprise makes the three-layer blankets with waterproof fabric, insulation and fasteners. Each can be used as a blanket, worn as a wrap or adapted into a sleeping bag. Humanitarian hubs distribute them to people facing cold conditions in shelters, subway stations and other temporary spaces.
There is another side to the project, too. The work provides income and a daily sense of purpose for those sewing the blankets, alongside food and humanitarian supplies. The people making them are part of the story, not simply a step in the supply chain.
A banner for the Rotary Club of Kharkiv Friends, District 2232, covered in handwritten messages and signatures.
A connection that keeps growing
Arnprior Rotarians found creative ways to support their Ukrainian counterparts: selling Ukrainian stamp sets through the Rotary on Stamps Fellowship, holding a silent auction at Tarts and Arts in the Park and sharing the project across the community. District 7040 provided matching support, while a US$25,000 Rotary Foundation disaster grant helped provide blankets for local hospitals in Kharkiv. The current effort aims to make another 500 blankets.
At the festival, a banner filled with handwritten messages made the long-distance partnership visible. Behind the project are Rotarians who know one another by name, local makers in Kharkiv and neighbours in Arnprior who continue to share their story. It shows what a Rotary connection can become when people stay in touch and work together.
Members of the Rotary Club of Arnprior at Ukrainian Festival in Carleton Place.