Yukon artists are beading tokens of appreciation for health care workers

A group of artists spanning Yukon Territory, known as the Fireweed Heroes, are beading flower pins for frontline health care workers to show their appreciation during the COVID-19 crisis. Fireweed, abundant in Canada’s North, is said to symbolize strength, healing, and renewal.

The group’s founder Kyla Popadynec told the Yukon’s APTN News that she felt inspired to create tokens of appreciation after noticing the toll COVID-19 was having on health care workers at the Dawson City hospital where she works. “Everyday I watch my nurses that I work with work really hard. It was just a thought, how can we give back,” she told APTN.

Over 200 artisans from across the Yukon have joined the beading group, which can be found on Facebook here. Fireweed Heroes invites bead artists of all levels of experience from across Canada to join the movement.

Popadynec is ⅕ of the way towards her goal of beading 100 pins, having created 20 to date to distribute in Dawson. Finished pins are sealed in bags for five days before being distributed to health care workers, to ensure they are not carrying any traces of the virus.

Sources: APTN News, Facebook