Two young sisters biked 53 miles collectively on Sunday, April 10, to honor a Ukrainian woman who died a month before turning 53. The weekend before, Carina and Ariana Dinu biked 45 miles to raise money for Ukrainian children who have been displaced by the war with Russia.

Carina, 7, and Ariana, 10, trained on weekend mornings for three months to prepare for the El Tour de Mesa on Saturday, April 2. One race wasn’t enough, however, and the sisters decided to ride again in the Ignite Women's Bike Event that took place in Fountain Hills on April 10.

The Dinu sisters had already raised over $6,800 on GoFundMe before the race in Fountain Hills, so their goal this time was to pay tribute to Iryna Filkina.

Filkina stayed in Ukraine to help people and cook for the Ukrainian military while her two daughters fled to Poland. Filikina was gunned down on a bike ride home on March 5, and images of a woman with distinctive nails began to circulate online in the following days.

Filikina started a cosmetics course at the beginning of 2022 and had painted a heart on one of her nails. When her daughters saw the pattern, they knew it was their mother.

According to Liz Caracciolo, founder of the Ignite Women’s Bike Event, the Dinu sisters fit right in at the race, and they were an inspiration to other riders.

“[Ignite] is a time for a group of like-minded individuals to come together to accomplish something important to them by pushing past their comfort zone,” Caracciolo said. “These girls found motivation and used the power of our bike event to push past their limits while bringing awareness to a cause they care about. And from what I've read about Iryna, she was at a stage in her life where she was also pushing past her comfort zone to unleash her next level of potential, which is the exact mission that Ignite empowers women in our community to do."

The sisters are from Scottsdale and they sent funds to their grandmother who lives in Galati, Romania, near the Ukrainian border. Their grandmother coordinated with the Biserica Crestina Emanuel (BCE) church to supply refugees with essentials.

According to a post on the Dinus’ GoFundMe page, they purchased baby food, blankets, cereal bars and toys for refugee children. The Dinu’s were also able to supply a dinner meal and more food items for about 70 Ukrainians at the BCE.

As of this writing, the Dinus have raised $7,219 on GoFundMe.com. Anyone who would like to contribute may visit gofundme.com/f/Biking-for-the-Children-of-Ukraine.