Citizen Brick is raising money for medical supplies in Ukraine by selling custom figures of the symbols of resistance.
A custom lego store in Chicago is selling custom designed LEGOs modeled after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Molotov Cocktails. All the proceeds are going to a charity that provides medical aid to Ukraine and the surrounding countries.
Citizen Brick is a store in Chicago that designs custom LEGO pieces. It’s a great place to get minifigs and pieces that LEGO doesn’t or won’t make. For $25, a customer can pick up a Carrie minifig, a knife wielding Green Beret, or a Squid Game player. There’s also individual pieces like cigarettes, condoms, and bandaged heads that allow LEGO fans to live out blocky fantasies that don’t go well with LEGO’s corporate image.
Now, Citizen Brick is offering Molotov Cocktails and Ukraine’s President as custom pieces. “In light of the recent invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military, Citizen Brick has decided to raise donations to help Ukrainian refugees. During tomorrow's sale, shoppers will have a chance to purchase these two custom items—the Molotov Cocktail ($10), and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy minifig ($100). Supplies will be very limited,” Citizen Brick said in a Facebook post announcing the sale. “100% of the sale of these items will go to @directrelief to assist with their efforts to bring medical supplies to the people of Ukraine.”
Direct Relief is a charity that provides humanitarian and disaster relief to countries around the world. In Ukraine, it partnered with the Ministry of Health in Kyiv to get medical supplies to Ukraine and the surrounding countries.
According to Citizen Brick, it’s raised $16,540 through sales on the site and another $170 through the donate button on Facebook. “We're scrambling to make another batch since this got picked up on the Ukrainian Instagram page,” Joe Trupia, Citizen Brick’s owner, told Motherboard in an email.
Citizen Brick isn’t the only group selling imagery of the war to raise money for charity. The St. Javelin charity has raised more than $1 million for direct humanitarian aid to Ukraine by selling T-shirts, stickers, hoodings, flags and patches decorated with a Christian saint clutching a a FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile launcher.
