Saturday night Iryna Tincher held a vigil for her home country of Ukraine to allow some prayer over the war happening overseas.
Underneath the Owensboro Bridge lit with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, the Overlook was full of people from different backgrounds, some were local Owensboroans while others made the trip from Evansville and even some Ukrainians and Russian people from the area.
Jeremy Tincher, Iryna’s husband, said that the two of them almost rescheduled the vigil due to the weather and the snow, however, he noted Ukrainians don’t get the privilege to be out in the city and still be afforded safety.
“We’ve seen over the last few weeks where people don’t have this privilege. So you know, I guess I’ve always said I’m thankful for that,” Jeremy said. “…All those people in Ukraine right now, this is the weather right now in Ukraine 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Iryna said that for the last 17 days, she and her family have been looking for ways to help and when it came to holding the vigil it was something that she knew would be good as she trusts that God would help the situation.
She noted that the Ukrainian flag typically has a bold color of blue on the flag however when getting ready for the event she opted to wear a lighter shade for symbolic reasons.
“I’m a big believer at this moment that with prayers and the light can help Ukraine to overcome the evil that you see on the news,” Iryna said.
After Iryna spoke, they opened the floor for the Lord’s Prayer and also the Spiritual Anthem of Ukraine to be read before Berly Tillman Sullivan prayed over the crowd.
Before everyone was dismissed, Iryna invited some of the Ukrainian community that traveled from Evansville to perform a song in Ukrainian as the bridge started to change back to its usual lighting scheme.
