General

I want to tell about my participation in the borsch cook-off for the orphans. A few months ago, a friend of mine invited me to participate in a borsch cook-off. The purpose of this event was a fundraising for one of the orphanages for disabled children in Ukraine. The life of these children is not simple or easy. Left without parental care, many of them do not have access even to the most basic things. And to try to help these children, my friend has been organizing this event for the last 6 years. As one saying goes, “We cannot help everyone, but for some, it can make difference.” After her offer to participate, I thought, “What will I do there; I'm not a cook?” But my friend persuaded me to participate. The more participants there are, the more interesting and diverse it will be. My family supported me, and I said: why not? 

When the day of the contest came, my borsch was ready. My family helped me to prepare Ukrainian decorations to make my table look good. We put on our national shirts, which are called vyshyvanka and went to the contest. 

There were many participants, 18 participants prepared meat borsch and 16 vegetarian. It was all very nicely decorated, many families came with children, there was a very warm and friendly atmosphere. A lot of people approached us, and we treated everyone who wished with our borsch. Members of the jury also tried the borsch of each participant and made their notes. It is interesting that the members of the jury did not have Ukrainian background, and therefore they did not know what it should taste like, but they judged based on their own personal tastes. When the time came to the end, and everyone was waiting for the results of the fundraising and announcement of the winner, the excitement grew. First, they announced the amount of the money - four thousand dollars! Wow! This was the largest amount for the whole period of the contest. It doubled the amount of the previous year. Everyone was delighted with this. I was very happy that I decided to take part in this cook-off, and most important that this will help the needs of the children. 

And then came the moment of the winner's announcement. First, they named the participant who took 3rd place, then 2nd. When it was time to name the winner, there was silence in the hall. The winner was the participant number 9. My daughter and I began to look around for the participant number 9. And then it came to us that number 9 is us! It was very unexpected for us and I think that for everyone else too, since many people participated in the contest for many years in a row. We came for the first time and won! We were filled with joyful feelings from the fact that we participated in this event, and from the fact that my borsch was highly appreciated by others (honestly, half of my family does not like borsch, and I often thought that this is my problem, now I know that it is their problem :). In conclusion, I want to say: "Do not be afraid to try.” If you don’t try you never know what can come of it”.