Cape Breton church lights blue and yellow candles for Ukraine

Ukrainain culture and connections run deep in Whitney Pier, N.S., which is why one church is burning blue and yellow candles to remember what is taking place overseas.

"It's almost like an eternal flame now until the situation gets resolved, the blue and yellow candles will always be lit," says Father Roman Dusonowskyj of Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Dusonowskyj says the images from Bucha are especially hard to watch.

His family is currently safe in western Ukraine, but many men have left the village to join the military.

"The uncertainty on whether they'll come back and in what shape they'll come back, all of that is playing on people's minds," he says.

"It is our way of giving them a hug from us and that we're thinking about them every day," says Trevor Tracey, organizer and owner of a funeral home.

While humanitarian aid continues to pour in overseas, money from the fundraiser will stay close to home.

"The money will be going to Toronto to the children's hospital for the children that were coming. It's going to be in the vicinity of $4,000 or $5,000," says Tracey.

Back in Whitney Pier, Dusonowskyj says people have been showing support any way they can, including two pictures that had been dropped off at the church by a veteran.

"These drawings are powerful expressions of the pain and the hope," he says.