Ukrposhta gets in the Easter spirit
Ian Kerr
It’s an indoor Easter for Ukrainians this year. All mass religious celebrations are banned in Ukraine thanks to That Virus - church services will be broadcast on TV or live streamed.
A Ukrainian tradition is the Easter cake (kulich). Every family bakes or buys traditional Easter cakes on the eve of Easter. To help Ukrainians maintain social distancing and avoid leaving the house, Ukrposhta (Ukrainian Post) teamed up with Kyiv bakery KyivHlib for a home delivery initiative.
And Ukrposhta delivered free of charge!
“Easter is the main holiday of the year for every Christian. Now we have tough quarantine conditions, often there isn’t any possibility get together with family and many find it difficult to get to the store when public transport is not working.” - Ukrposhta General Director Igor Smelyansky.
Ukrposhta took orders for free delivery of Easter cakes through its website or over the phone via its contact centre. Posties then delivered to cakes to people at home. The cakes cost 30 to 50 UAH, with a cash-on-delivery payment option.
About 20,000 Easter cakes were delivered over the past week. Consecration was also arranged so that residents could receive cakes sprinkled with holy water.
Ukrposhta teamed with a local charity to launch a program in which people could "order" a cake for a lonely elderly person. The initiative collected enough money to purchase 2,500 Easter cakes that Ukrposhta delivered to the elderly.
Listen to my interview with Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky earlier this year:
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