Peace By Chocolate Donates Proceeds From Product Sales To Ukrainian Relief Efforts
HALIFAX—A Nova Scotia chocolate company founded by survivors of Syria’s civil war is leading a campaign to support Ukrainians impacted by the Russian invasion.
Tareq Hadhad is the founder and CEO of Peace By Chocolate.
He and his family came to Canada in 2015 after a civil war forced them to flee their home in Syria. His father, Isam, ran a chocolate company in Syria and shortly after arriving in Antigonish he and Tareq revived the business.
Since then, Peace By Chocolate has received national attention, propelled by its positive messages and the Hadhad family’s story.
In a phone interview on March 3, Hadhad said he knew he needed to do something as soon as he learned about the plight of the Ukrainian people.
“Watching the images and videos of people losing everything in a split second, and fleeing their homes for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, it just brought back memories from our own experiences in the war in Syria in 2012… when the world destroyed our lives, stole everything from us, destroyed our house, and destroyed our chocolate factory, killed many of my family members,” he said.
“Watching all of that just gave us a new sense of understanding of the meaning of peace and how grateful we should be to be in Canada at this time.”
We lived through an indescribable war that we would not wish upon anyone. No one chooses to lose the sense of home and become a refugee, that’s why we are releasing https://t.co/83luUbdvKF with the @redcrosscanada to provide critical humanitarian support for Ukrainians. #МИР pic.twitter.com/eqSOTpxaZI
— Tareq Hadhad (@TareqHadhad) March 2, 2022
To support Ukrainians affected by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of their country, Hadhad says Peace By Chocolate will donate the proceeds from its Peace Bars and the Peace Maker collection to the Red Cross’s Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal.
The Peace By Chocolate team also set up a website so individuals can give directly to the Red Cross and take advantage of the federal government’s pledge to match donations.
The team is also working to set up an online portal for people to help Ukrainians coming to Canada. It will have resources on providing food, shelter, and ESL training and information about specific organizations that can help.
Those resources, Hadhad said, will be important once the initial shock of the war wears off and “crisis fatigue” pushes Ukrainians further from people’s minds.
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It’s something he and his family experienced as they were fleeing war in Syria and he doesn’t want the same to happen to Ukrainians fleeing their country.
“So I want to tell [Ukrainians] that we see you, we hear you, we know that you are there,” he said.
“War can teach you many things and can probably unveil how ugly the world can get. But don’t lose hope and faith that there is goodness and kindness all around you.”
For more information on Peace By Chocolate’s campaign, or to donate, visit www.PeaceforUkraine.ca.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].