'Our Shore for Ukraine' Lavallette dinner to raise money for humanitarian relief

LAVALLETTE – A sold-out dinner Saturday at St. Pio Parish Hall will raise money for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

"Our Shore for Ukraine" will feature food by 17 local restaurants including the Crab's Claw, The Sawmill, Mia's Pizza, Acme and Klee's. Proceeds from the BYOB dinner, a 50/50 raffle and other raffles will be donated to St. Stephen Ukrainian Catholic Church in Toms River.

From there, donations will be consolidated and sent to a fund administered by the Archeparchy of Philadelphia, the Eastern Orthodox Church's archdiocese, according to dinner organizers Jack Sauer and his wife, April. The money then will be distributed directly to Ukraine.

St. Pio Parish Hall is located at 1200 Grand Central Ave. (Route 35) in Lavallette, and the dinner begins at 6 p.m.

The benefit is a "zero cost/100% benefit" event, with all food, supplies and services being donated, Sauer said. "This is a grass roots, community driven effort and it is not just the Lavallette community that is involved, but our broader community up and down the island as well as across the bay," he said in a prepared statement.

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Sauer, who retired about a year ago, said he was inspired to help organize the event after viewing news reports on the Russian invasion. He said he went to St. Stephen Church to volunteer to help pack supplies to be sent to Ukraine and spoke to the Rev. Volodymyr Popyk, asking if there was anything more he could do.

Popyk noted that the church is still accepting financial donations, and Sauer decided to approach the owner of the Crab's Claw, Sam Hammer, about possibly organizing a fundraising dinner. Hammer immediately agreed to help, Sauer said, but the largest room at his restaurant could only hold 60 people.

Hammer suggested St. Pio's Parish Hall, and Sauer said the church quickly agreed to host the event. So far, more than $27,000 has been raised through ticket sales alone, Sauer said.

"In addition to the horrors that we see on the news every day, we believe that many in our community are also moved by the fact that we have a significant Ukrainian immigrant population in our area and that in past summers, many young Ukrainians have been a vital part of our seasonal economy," Sauer said.

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Minimum requested donation for dinner tickets is $50, and there is now a waiting list for tickets. But Sauer said organizers are still accepting donations.

Checks should be made payable to St. Stephen Ukrainian Catholic Church and sent to or dropped off at Sauer's house at 405 Bay Blvd., Lavallette, NJ 08735. He said the organizing team for the dinner includes about a dozen people.

"People I think felt like I did, " Sauer said. "You watch this stuff going on, first of all, you are in awe of the courage, the resilience, the devotion to freedom of the Ukrainian people. They will die if they have to."

A history buff, Sauer said he sees "a lot of parallels there between what drove the American patriots" and what is happening in Ukraine. "It really moved me," he added.

For more information, or to make a donation to help the local effort to aid Ukraine, call Sauer at 973-650 4554.

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 37 years. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Lavallette NJ dinner to raise money for Ukraine