The last Friday of every month is food-focused at Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Whalley.

The perogy suppers have raised money for charitable causes for more than two decades and, after a lengthy COVID-related shutdown, church volunteers are back serving perogies along with borscht, cabbage rolls and other Ukrainian "soul food," as Lilia Johnson calls it.

She's an organizer of the cash-only events, which start at 4:30 p.m. and end around 7:30, for both dine-in and takeout customers.

"It feels like home here, and it's food for the Ukrainian soul," Johnson said during the last supper, Aug. 23, at 13512 108 Ave.

"Our commercial kitchen is here with the stove and ovens, and the food it all made right here," she added. "The perogies are pinched by volunteers, the cabbage rolls are rolled by volunteers, all of it."

Lyuda Shokalyuk is responsible for making the borscht, a sour soup made with meat stock, vegetables and seasonings.

"No secret recipe, just my soul, my love and everything," said Shokalyuk, who moved to Canada 22 years ago. "You have to have joy to make, that's it, that's the secret. If you're not in a good mood, you don't have to start to make Borscht. But even if you have to make borscht, it puts me in a good mood because you know you get to it eat, and it tastes much better the next day."

Shokalyuk said she volunteers there because she loves her church and community very much, "and I want the community to stay alive, so I help," she said. "We all help. It's my big family, you know. I am helping now more, because, you know, when you have a job, you have to work and you have children and everything at home. Now I'm retired and I can help and I have time for it."

The perogy suppers benefit church activities and also community groups and initiatives. 

"We've shared the wealth with various organizations like the hospital, the firefighters fund and that kind of thing," Johnson explained. "It also allows us to offer donations to groups that are helping registered charities in Canada that are helping humanitarian aid in Ukraine. There's a national organization that sort of overlooks churches and foundations, a Canada-Ukraine foundation offering humanitarian aid through the donations they receive in Canada. Everything little bit helps."

Both dine-in and takeout options are popular.

"People got out of the habit of dining in (during the pandemic), and right now it's about half and half, people picking up their food and taking it away, and others dining in," Johnson noted. "If there's a game on TV, you pick up your ready-made Ukrainian food, go home and eat it in front of the game. People do that, and others come in to celebrate their birthday or come with friends and talk. It's a community gathering."

Johnson said consistency is key for Ukrainian food prepared at the cultural centre.

"I think every cook has a different way of cooking, but we try and maintain consistency in our products," she said. "It's the same recipe for making the perogy dough every time as opposed to volunteers who come in and cook it slightly different."

The way perogies are cooked can cause arguments, she said.  

"In my family, we always have fresh boiled perogies, doused with butter and onions and sour cream," Johnson said. "Then on the second day, when they were a little stale, you'd reheat them by pan-frying them. Some people insist that there's no way they would like to have just plain perogies, they always have to be pan-fried. It depends on the person. I like them plain, then on the second day I puff them up by frying them but I don't necessarily brown them to the extent that some people like."

Frozen food is sold on Fridays and also Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For details, call 604-531-1923 or 604-581-0313.