Move over Stoli and Smirnoff — Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery’s home-brewed vodka has brought in more than $25,000 for the Ukrainian war relief effort.
Hoping to ease the plight of Ukrainian refugees fleeing from the Russian invasion, the Vernon and Kelowna-based distillery chose to donate all proceeds from every bottle of vodka sold in March to the Ukraine Emergency Fund, via Canada’s branch of the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
By the end of March, the vodka sales had amounted to a donation of $25,466.
“Our family was heartbroken by the images coming out of Ukraine and decided to help out in a way that we thought could generate the largest amount of benefit in the shortest possible time,” said distillery CEO Tyler Dyck.
“Our belief was that if we stepped up and donated 100 per cent of the bottle sticker price, and not just the profits, then we could really get our craft spirits supporters to rally behind this cause,” Dyck added.
“We didn’t want to have our family benefit financially in any way from this initiative: we figured putting our money where our mouth is, by donating all funds, was the best way to hopefully convince people to be similarly inspired to help in their own way as the need is so great.”
The distillery included all revenues from the sale of vodka bottles of all sizes, whether they were bought through private liquor stores, lounges, restaurants or to individual buyers.
The distillery says the donation to UNCHR will be made this week.
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