ST. LOUIS — A Jefferson County family let 5 On Your Side know about its proud Ukrainian heritage and a desire to raise money to support Ukraine during the war. Instead of writing a check, the family has turned to an ancient art.
As the Russian assault on Ukraine continues Lynn and Scott Lohse can only look on in terror.
“The buildings are just so destroyed I don’t know how they’re ever going to rebuild,” said Lynn Lohse. “I don’t know that it will ever again become what it was, but we need to do what we can.”
Tapping into Lynn’s Ukrainian heritage the Lohse's settled on an ancient art.
“They’re called pysanky is the word,” said Scott Lohse. “Ukrainian Easter eggs.”
These ornate decorations are made from a combination of beeswax and dyes.
“I generally can do one at one sitting in three to five hours,” said Scott Lohse. “The sort of tense thing about working on the egg as a canvas is you never know for sure how it’s going to receive the dyes.”
The design on each egg is typically different, but in this case, Lohse decided to add a Ukrainian touch.
“We decided that all of the eggs for this thank you gift are going to have a sunflower on them because it’s the flower of the Ukraine,” said Scott Lohse.
A coat of polyurethane protects them from being brittle.
“As I’m doing the eggs, I send prayers to the people who are refugees, but I also think about the person who will receive it,” said Scott Lohse.
Though these eggs aren’t for sale, a $10 donation to GoFundMe enters each person in a raffle to win one of 10 eggs.
“All of the funds are going directly to Global Ministries, which is an international interfaith organization,” said Scott Lohse. “They’ll actually be delivered through churches.”
To date, the Lohse family has raised just under $4,000 dollars.
“I think everyone wants to make a difference now,” said Scott Lohse.
The true payoff in their eyes is keeping this ancient art form alive.
“I love that it’s not going to be a dying art form like so many things could be,” said Lynn Lohse.
“So long as the art is preserved everything will kind of go well with the world,” said Scott Lohse. “Things aren’t going so well with the world right now, so we need to decorate more eggs I guess.”
If you would like to pitch a story you can email Holden at hkurwicki1@ksdk.com or text us at 314-425-5355.
