Small businesses in Madison are using their platforms and resources to raise funds for various nonprofit organizations that are on the ground in Ukraine.

Regent Streets’ Leopold’s Books Bar Caffè joined in the effort to raise funds for Ukraine last week when they announced via Facebook that 100% of proceeds from Russian and Ukrainian book sales would be donated to World Central Kitchen, an organization founded in 2010 that provides meals to those impacted by natural disasters and humanitarian crises.

Now, WCK is focusing its efforts on feeding Ukrainian refugees in Poland and internally displaced refugees in Ukraine, according to Leopold’s Facebook post.

Owner of Leopold’s Books Sam Brown said in an email to The Badger Herald that Leopold’s has raised nearly $500 for WCK since the launch of the fundraiser. Starting Mar. 24, Leopold’s will be hosting dinners of borscht, matzo ball soup and cabbage rolls weekly, with all proceeds going towards WCK.

“Josè Andrès’ World Central Kitchen is doing great work around the world and our ties to the foodservice industry make them a natural partner for us,” Leopold’s owner Sam Brown said.

Brown gave some of his recommendations for UW students interested in Ukrainian and Russian literature — “I Will Die in a Foreign Land” by Kalani Pickhart, “Day of the Oprichnik” by Vladimir Sorokin, “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin” by Masha Gessen and “Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine” by Anne Reid and “Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine” by Anne Applebaum.

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Washington State Journal cartoonist John Kovalic started the local initiative to raise money for Ukraine. Kovalic drew comics of Paddington Bear after learning that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the voice for the Ukrainian version of the children’s show, according to the Cap Times.

Other local organizations raising money for Ukraine include Anthropology on State Street, the Bloom Bake Shop on Monroe Street and I/O Arcade Bar on Williamson Street, according to the Cap Times.

Brown urges students to stand up for their values, even if the war is being waged on the other side of the world.

“This is the great fight against authoritarianism of our time,” Brown said. “We can’t choose to look away.”