Hector Aizon
Cedar Coffee owner Igor Anisimov fled Ukraine in 2015; now he's raising funds to help his country amid Russia's invasion.
Leaving behind his home in the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk — located in the pro-Russian, rebel-controlled territory known as the Donetsk People's Republic, which broke away from the country in 2014 — Anisimov and his family arrived in Spokane as refugees in September 2015.
By November 2017, Anisimov opened Cedar Coffee in a brightly-lit corner space at 701 N. Monroe St., just a few blocks north of the Monroe Street Bridge and downtown Spokane.
"I am a businessman in my mind and my heart," Anisimov told the Inlander when we featured his and Cedar Coffee's story in February 2018. "I love business, and I love coffee. The coffee shop is not just business, it's my life, my love," he said.
After watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold last week, Anisimov decided to use his position as a small business owner to do what he could to help hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens seeking refuge from Russia's attacks.
So on Saturday, March 5, from 8 am to 4 pm, Cedar Coffee is donating all of its sales — not just profits — to the Ukrainian government to aid those who've been displaced by the war.
"We are going to sell coffee, beverages and collect money to send to Ukraine to help my people," Anisimov says.
The cafe owner says family and friends of his who are still living in Ukraine are alive, "but I don't know how it will be tomorrow."
For locals also wishing to help (including those who might not to make it to Cedar Coffee's fundraiser on Saturday), Time published a guide of trustworthy international aid nonprofits, such as UNICEF, the international Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and others.
After watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold last week, Anisimov decided to use his position as a small business owner to do what he could to help hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens seeking refuge from Russia's attacks.
So on Saturday, March 5, from 8 am to 4 pm, Cedar Coffee is donating all of its sales — not just profits — to the Ukrainian government to aid those who've been displaced by the war.
"We are going to sell coffee, beverages and collect money to send to Ukraine to help my people," Anisimov says.
The cafe owner says family and friends of his who are still living in Ukraine are alive, "but I don't know how it will be tomorrow."
For locals also wishing to help (including those who might not to make it to Cedar Coffee's fundraiser on Saturday), Time published a guide of trustworthy international aid nonprofits, such as UNICEF, the international Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and others.
