'It's incredible.' Door County shop sells thousands of specialty candles to raise money for Ukrainians
CARLSVILLE – Christiana Gorchynsky Trapani was hoping to do a little something to help people in the besieged country of Ukraine.
Turns out she's doing way, way more than she expected, and she's more than happy to do so.
Trapani, the owner of Door County Candle Co., also is a second-generation Ukrainian-American. Both sets of her grandparents came to the U.S. from the former Soviet empire, and her first language is Ukrainian.
So when Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, it hit close to home for Trapani, who has aunts and uncles and their families living there.
"We were talking to family in Ukraine after Russia invaded," she said. "They were crying, they were scared. We felt helpless. We were crying and scared along with them."
As a business owner who's proud of her Ukrainian heritage, she started trying to think of ways she could help. "And it came to me — wait a minute, we already have these candles."
"These candles" were vanilla-scented ones Door County Candle made for a fundraiser for St. Nicholas Cathedral School in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago. They're designed to look like the flag of Ukraine, blue on the top half and yellow on the bottom in their glass jars.
Trapani said she had a number of the candles left over from the fundraiser, so she decided to have her company make a few more and sell them to raise money for relief efforts in Ukraine.
"I was expecting to sell about 50 or 100 candles," she said.
That was a bit of an underestimation.
As of the middle of last week, the business had sold nearly 20,000 of the blue and yellow candles.
"We’ve had businesses in the community reach out and buy a case or more, like Cornucopia, Main Street Market and Inn at Cedar Crossing," she said. "We’ve also had people buy over 20 to support the cause. It’s incredible."
Orders have been coming from "people right down the road" in Sturgeon Bay and from as far away as Alaska, Trapani said.
Further, she said, customers have been driving hours from places like Milwaukee and Chicago "just to buy a candle." One day, an exchange student from the Ukraine city of Mariupol showed up; another day, two people who were deployed in Ukraine in 2019 while serving in the National Guard drove over from Oshkosh. Trapani and the Ukraine Candles even appeared on The Today Show.
Because of the demand, the store's website — which has crashed several times because of overwhelming traffic — is telling customers it will take four to seven weeks to fill orders for the special candles.
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The business in Carlsville, just north of Sturgeon Bay, can make about 700 candles a day. All of the company’s scented wax products are hand poured and handcrafted in small batches at the store. To help meet the surging demand for Ukraine Candles, she's enlisted the help of volunteers that include her husband, Nic; her parents and grandmother; and the company's previous owner, Mike Felhofer. The company will keep making the candles for as long as people want to buy them, Trapani said.
Trapani earned a bachelor's degree in communication from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2016, and a master's in digital communications strategies from Marquette University in 2018. Her husband graduated from Marquette with a degree in theater design and technology in 2014.
Felhofer founded the candle company in 1993 with his wife Nancy. When they decided to retire and sell the business, Trapani returned to her native Door County and took over last June.
All profits from the sale of Ukraine Candles go to Razom for Ukraine (Razom is Ukrainian for "together"), a nonprofit that says on its website it is trying to help "individuals and organizations working to create opportunities and a better future for themselves and their communities" in the country. Trapani said her donations are going to Razom's emergency response fund for those who need help because of the invasion.
Trapani said she wanted to be transparent with customers that the company will deduct the cost of raw goods, paying staff and other basic business expenses. The first donation to Razom will go out this week: more than $100,000.
"I'm happy we're raising awareness," Trapani said.
Helping Ukraine
To buy candles or for more information, call 920-746-2125; or visit doorcountycandle.com. Cost of the Ukraine Candle is $29.99. People who want to donate but might not want to buy a candle can click on the link on the Door County Candle website, Trapani said, or to go to the Razom website and make a direct contribution.