Please join us in celebrating and praising the Lord that a CHF container arrived in Ukraine with the support of our partner, Mission Eurasia. The container held a total of 2,380 Food Paks that will be distributed to families in need through our networks of partner churches
Our partners at Mission Eurasia told us, “We are so grateful for your partnership. That container will provide much-needed food to Ukraine and give opportunities for the local Christians to share God’s love and plan for perfect and lasting peace.”
Please continue to pray for Ukraine.
- Pray for peace and an end to the war.
- Pray for nearly 6 million internally displaced people.
- Pray for the 8 million refugees across Europe.
- Pray for 17+ million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
- Pray for the local pastors and church volunteers who continue to serve in their communities.
Update 2/16/2023
Next Friday marks the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over the past twelve months, we’ve witnessed stories of God’s faithfulness as well as the faithfulness of His people.
Our partners in Romania have risked their own safety to drive several truckloads of food and resources across the border into Ukraine. We’ve seen the faithfulness of potential new partners in Poland and Moldova who have stepped up to help with the current refugee crisis. Local churches in Ukraine have transformed their buildings into temporary housing for refugees.
Our partners at Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) have faithfully coordinated the distribution of resources provided by CHF’s emergency relief grants. In addition to providing food, SGA has provided generators, blankets, cast iron stoves, and other resources to help families get through the harsh Ukrainian winter months.
SGA Vice President of Ministry Operations Eric Mock shared, “We ship 40 tons of aid each week from Poland through churches who are part of the Polish Baptist Union. It is trucked in through a trucking business operated by faithful Ukrainian Baptist believers. You have played a vital role in this. 1,280 tons have been shipped so far.
“We also assist churches in providing targeted aid. This is done through purchasing food, medicine, and hygiene items in Zaporozhye to get to churches literally on the battleline in the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions, as well as in Odessa and Zaporozhye itself. Also with your support, targeted aid is provided to missionary pastors as part of the Mercy Network who purchase aid locally and deliver it to a suffering people who are hearing the gospel, our only message of hope. Along with this, we have been providing aid for refugees in Belarus, Russia, Poland, Georgia, and Israel.”
Vladimir is one of the pastors we partner with in Ukraine. He has witnessed people coming to Christ in search of answers and sees the hand of God in their lives. “Almost every day,” he shared, “there are air raid alarms, every day they turn off the lights. Yet consider the young widow Maria. After the death of her husband, she now regularly attends church services. Her children go to Sunday school. Share shares, ‘If it weren’t for the church, I don’t know how I would be able to continue living.’” In her pain, Maria has turned to the church in search of hope and healing.
For so many families, the food—which is so desperately needed—is the first step in a relationship with the local church and, hopefully, a relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you have given to the Emergency Relief Fund, you have supported the ministry being done in Ukraine and surrounding countries. It is thanks to your faithfulness, generosity, and prayer that so many of the stories we have shared were made possible.
Click the video below and hear a short message of gratitude from Eric Mock at SGA for your support this past year. Please continue to pray for this ministry and support if you are able.
Nastya was in their bomb shelter one day when she began to hear the telltale sounds of shelling and began to panic. Her daughter-in-law and grandchild were outside retrieving water at the river near their house, without any protection from the artillery attack. Nastya immediately began praying that God would protect them.
When she was finally able to leave the shelter, she was overcome with relief to learn that God had answered her prayers. Her daughter-in-law, along with everyone else who was outside during the attack, fell to the ground when the shelling started. She used her body to protect the child and both were miraculously unharmed.
After this attack, the family knew they could no longer remain in Mariupol and decided to leave. They eventually made their way to Zhashkov, where they connected with a local church supported by our in-country partners at Slavic Gospel Association.
This church is just one of sixty churches to receive food from a recent shipment of thirty-three pallets sponsored by Children’s Hunger Fund disaster relief donations. Since November, over 625,000 meals were distributed to over 12,000 families.
Despite dropping temperatures, inconsistent electricity and communication technology, and ongoing Russian attacks, churches throughout Ukraine are continuing to serve families who have been forced to evacuate their homes. We give thanks for these faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who continue to answer the call to serve families in need.
The Evanko family is one of three families who have recently come to stay in the city of Khmelnik, where our Mercy Network church partner Vladimir Khomenko and his church serve the people of their community. The three families recently traveled from their homes in Kramotorsk, a city in the partiallyoccupied Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine.
For months, it was nearly impossible for them to evacuate the city, but God finally provided them with a safe escape. They found a house in a mostly evacuated village to provide them with shelter before they moved on.
The members of Pastor Khomenko’s church are no stranger to these types of stories as they serve displaced families who have either settled near Khmelnik or are passing through on their way out of Ukraine. The Evanko family traveled over 560 miles (904 km) from their hometown.
In the small village of VelikiyMytnyk near Khmelnik, members of Pastor Khomenko’s church met Galyna and her family. Like the Evanko family, Galyna’s family traveled a long distance to get to safety.
Before the war, Galyna lived with her husband, their two children, and her father in Kalanchak, a small town located near the isthmus of Crimea. Their town was among the first areas to be attacked when Russian forces invaded on February 24th.
They were able to live in their home for about three months while Russian troops occupied their town before it became necessary to retreat to their basement.Galyna’s husband died during this time, though she has been unwilling to share the details.
Galyna was pregnant when the war started. She gave birth to her third child in her basement while Russian forced occupied her village.
By God’s grace, Galyna and her family were finally able to escape their basement and traveled 434 miles (700 km) to where they are staying now.
Thank you for your generosity and your prayers. You are helping to deliver hope to families in need.
On the recent trip to Ukraine, Mission Eurasia Field Ministries Executive Director Denis Gorenkov visited the bombed remains of the Mission Eurasia Field Ministry Headquarters in Irpin, Ukraine. Instead of being overcome by grief, the team from Mission Eurasia embraced the opportunity to seek God’s guidance for the ministry. Denis later shared that, “it was there, among the destroyed walls, we prayed that God would give us new opportunities and new prospects for our ministry.”
With the help of funding from Children’s Hunger Fund, Mission Eurasia has been faithfully delivering food packages to families in need since early in the war. In addition to these food distributions, they have also conducted Bible camps for children throughout the summer months. Counselors and Christian psychologists came to the camps and spent time speaking with the refugee children and their parents to help them process their circumstances.
Kateryna is a twelve-year-old who attended one of these Bible camps. Her family had traveled from their hometown deep in occupied territory to western Ukraine—over 690 miles (1,120 km)! “I was with my mom and dad in the Mariupol theater when the bomb was dropped on it,” Kateryna shared. “We survived, but many people died there.
“We walked for three days to Zaporizhzhia. We went through twelve checkpoints, and when the volunteers took us to the center for refugees, I was so exhausted I couldn’t stand on my feet. The next day, they took us to a church in a village near Chernivtsi.
“I couldn’t eat for a long time. I felt a loud noise in my ears and couldn’t sleep without light at night. When we went to receive a food package and learned that there would be a camp for children like me, I asked my mom to sign us up.
“The first few days I was here, I cried a lot, but the women on the team were there for me. I smiled for the first time in two months, started to dance, and hugged my mom very tight. I became alive. Now I pray every night for my friends who stayed in Mariupol. Sometimes I talk to them and tell them about God’s support and try to comfort them. I am not sure I do that well, but I so want to help. I want to help the way I was helped at the camp.”
Our partners at Mission Eurasia expressed thankfulness for the support of Children’s Hunger Fund and your generosity. With the help of the emergency relief funding you’ve provided, Mission Eurasia has been able to distribute over 100,000 food packages and over 1,200 tons of food. Their ministry has also attracted over 2,500 volunteers who are dedicated to serving these families with much-needed food and the life-saving power of the gospel.
Update 8/24/22
At Children’s Hunger Fund, it is our great joy and blessing to hear stories from our donors about how they have been blessed by the ability to participate in the ministry.
Recently, we received this message from David Hunter, a first-time donor from Georgia.
David wrote:
Our six-year-old daughter, Charley, came home from school one May afternoon after learning about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We had not discussed the conflict with our kids before, determining that they were too young to be able to deal with such a brutal and confusing event.
When confronted with the news, we discussed the situation in terms that she could understand. Kids and their families just like her were being forced to flee from their homes to seek shelter in foreign lands. These refugees had no roofs over their heads or food on their tables.
She asked, “Daddy, how can I help those kids?”
We told her that there are wonderful charities who would take donations and use them to feed and shelter these children and their families.
She sat and nibbled on her dinner for a few minutes, then asked in an excited voice, “Do you think I could sell some of my artwork to raise money for them?”
She is a prodigious artist who specializes in rainbows and flowers. We told her that selling her art was a great idea and decided to set up a table by the road one afternoon to see if we could raise a few dollars.
She worked relentlessly over the coming weeks to create some artwork to sell. Meanwhile, we searched charity rating websites to find an efficient charity with relief efforts targeting Ukrainian refugee families. She connected with the Children’s Hunger Fund, which has low overhead and a big impact. We discussed the art sale idea with some of our neighbors who loved the idea and asked their kids if they would like to participate. One of them also suggested we set up a Kid’s Art Exhibit at the neighborhood block party scheduled for June.
We love that it was becoming a broader effort and including more kids and families. On June nineteenth, we had our block party with all the kids’ artwork over the past month on full display. Neighbors were socializing and walking over to peruse the art exhibit.
After the dust settled, it became clear what wonderful and generous neighbors we had. We sold over 20 pieces of art and raised $466! Money is still flowing in as neighbors who missed the event have expressed interest in buying a piece of art. We rounded it up to $500 for her. Also, my firm CPC Advisors is going to match the donation.
We at Children’s Hunger Fund are so grateful for Charley and her parents, who inspired a neighborhood to make an impact, as well as so many others who have contributed to our Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund. Our partners are continuing to make deliveries of food and resources to those suffering during this conflict, and these gifts really do make a difference.
Last week, a sea container left our Los Angeles Distribution Center and is headed to Romania. The container is filled with 28,800 Meal Paks. These high-protein casserole kits will be trucked from Romania into Moldova with the help of our partners at Mission Eurasia. The Meal Paks will be distributed by local churches in Moldova to Ukrainian refugees.
In addition to providing food, we recently shipped a container of toys and baby wipes to partners in Poland. The toys (donated by All Things Possible) and baby wipes (donated by Delivering Good) will be distributed to Ukrainian refugee families.
Please pray for these containers in the coming weeks. Pray that there would be no complications with the journey across the sea and getting the containers cleared once they arrive. Pray for the refugees who will be receiving these resources and that their hearts would be open to the hope of the gospel message. And, of course, please continue to pray for a resolution to this conflict and for the safety of those displaced from their homes.
Update 7/27/22
Mykolaiv (also known as Nikolaev) is a city and region, or oblast, in the southern part of Ukraine. With its prime location on the edge of the Black Sea and along the Southern Bug River—the second largest river in Ukraine—Mykolaiv is an important Ukrainian transportation hub.
Though Mykolaiv has not been captured by Russian forces, it has sustained substantial damage from continued attacks since February. Mykolaiv stands in the way between Russia and the Odessa Oblast, which houses Ukraine’s two largest shipping ports.
An attack in April destroyed the pipeline, which cost the city its main water supply. Recent attacks have left the streets of Mykolaiv with rubble and destroyed buildings—government, business, and residential alike—and left those remaining in Mykolaiv without access to food and water and many without homes.
With stories like these, it’s difficult to see the hope. But thanks to the dedication of local church pastors and volunteers, your donations are making a difference. So how can your support help a struggling family in Mykolaiv, Ukraine? Let’s walk through one possible journey of a Ukraine Relief Fund donation.
Somewhere in the world, a donation is made toward relief efforts in Ukraine. That money is sent from Children’s Hunger Fund as part of a grant to Pastor Viorel, our partner in Romania. Pastor Viorel uses that grant to purchase bulk food. Once loaded into several trucks and vans, that food is driven over 325 miles (530 km) from Slatina, Romania, to the city of Izmail, Ukraine, in the Odessa Oblast.
In Izmail, a youth pastor by the name of Mark and several volunteers from his church turn that bulk food into Food Paks. Those Food Paks are loaded into Sprinter vans, along with large water tanks, and driven another 389 miles (241 km) to the city of Mykolaiv.
At a church in Mykolaiv, people bring empty water containers and fill them from the water tanks. Food Paks are distributed to those who need them. Multiple church services are being held each day. For many of the guests, this will be the first time they have ever heard the good news of the gospel. For some, this may be the first message of hope they have heard since the war began. For others, this message will change their lives forever.
Once the food has been delivered and the water is gone, Mark and his team will return to Izmail and prepare for the next week when they will make the trip again.
This is just one example of how a gift can bring hope to people in need in Ukraine. Every gift makes a difference.
Update: 7/11/22
As church partners in Ukraine, Romania, Poland, and Moldova continue to minister to families throughout Ukraine who are impacted by the ongoing war, we are so encouraged by faithful supporters who are making these relief efforts possible.
Over the past two years—long before the start of the war in Ukraine—thousands of volunteers at our Los Angeles Distribution Center have donated their time to building Meal Paks, a nutritious, lentil casserole kit that can provide a family in need with nine high-protein meals.
Throughout the month of June, approximately 200 people at over ten volunteer sessions helped prepare these Meal Paks for shipment to Ukraine. In all, they prepared twenty-two pallets for shipment, which will include 31,680 Meal Paks, enough to provide over 285,000 meals.
In Arizona, a newly married couple asked their guests to make donations to the CHF Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund in lieu of wedding gifts.
Several churches across the country have already reached out to let us know that they will be raising funding for Ukraine relief during their VBS programs through Project Coin Pak.
In California, one church collected Coin Paks at their VBS program. Students collected quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies in their Coin Paks. Several students asked that their donations be used specifically for Ukraine relief. The coins they raised can provide 260 meals.
In Virginia, a small church consisting of about 60 people recently held a VBS program and raised $500 for Ukraine relief. Then, a generous member of the church offered to match it! The VBS coordinator shared with us that one little boy approached her and said he wanted to donate a hundred dollars. She told him to pray about it and talk to his parents about it. Later in the week, the boy’s father told her that he prayed about it throughout the week and decided that they would donate the $100!
Since February, over 1,300 people just like you have supported the CHF Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund by donating over one million dollars!
Recently, two more grants were sent to our partners in Moldova and our partners at Guidelight. Please continue to pray with us as local churches use these resources to provide food and the hope of the gospel to families in need.
6/29/22 Update
Earlier this year, Children’s Hunger Fund partnered with Kishinev Bible Church Ministries (KBC Ministries), located in the capital city of Moldova, Ukraine’s neighbor to the south. Using funds raised through our Ukraine Emergency Relief fund, we were able to send a grant that would allow KBC Ministries to purchase over 80,000 meals for refugees fleeing Ukraine.
Below is an update we recently received from our partners at KBC Ministries:
“Thank you so much for the support and the grant that helped purchase food for those Ukrainian families who are traveling through Moldova to Western European counties where they can receive more assistance and be settled for a little longer. Your grant has allowed us to buy groceries and give to the people enough food to last them a four-hour bus ride.
“To date, we helped send over eighty buses. As we give the bags out, we also give people a Gospel of John to read with the gospel presentation. We also have ten minutes before the bus departs where we pray with people and share the gospel verbally. Thank you for providing funds that make this outreach possible.”
KBC Ministries has also come alongside the largest government-run center for refugees and has been able to provide close to a hundred frozen meals as well as fruit and yogurt. The center can provide housing for 400 people, and more than 30% of them are children. KBC Ministries has been invited to minister to the refugees through weekly children’s programs, art therapy, and Bible classes.
We continue to be amazed by God’s faithfulness in providing partners like KBC Ministries to care for Ukrainian refugees with gospel-centered mercy ministry.
6/13/22 Update
Prior to the Russian invasion, over 40 million people lived in Ukraine. According to the UN, 14 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since February. But less than half of them have left the country. The rest are displaced from their homes and forced to navigate the ever-fluctuating battleground of their home country.
The Tkachuk family used to live in a town located a mere 25 miles from the Russian border. Their home was half destroyed when a bomb struck, and they left with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They travelled over 200 miles from their home until they reached safety.
The Kostyuk family used to live in a village in the Donetsk region. When Russian soldiers appeared on their streets in April, they hid in their cellar to avoid the fighting taking place, emerging just long enough to grab food from the house. Ukrainian soldiers later recaptured the village and urged the Kostyuk family to leave for their own safety. They traveled over 250 miles west with three other families before finding a safe place to stay.
Oksana is eight years old. She used to live with her parents in eastern Ukraine in the Luhansk Region, less than 20 miles north of the area held by Russian-backed separatists prior to the invasion. When their neighbor learned that Oksana’s family was planning to evacuate, the windows of their home were smashed. Oksana’s father was injured during their escape, and they still have family remaining in their hometown. They have since learned that their house has been completely destroyed, leaving them no place to return to once the war is over. They traveled 350 miles to reach safety.
Although these families all came from different towns and villages, they all arrived in the same area in central Ukraine where local churches recently received a shipment of food. Funding provided by generous CHF donors was used to purchase the food in Poland with the help of our partners at Slavic Gospel Association. The trucks carrying the food travelled over 500 miles of war-torn streets to bring it to faithful church partners in Ukraine.
Though weary and far from home, every one of these families expressed gratitude for the generous blessing of food, shelter, and aid provided by the local church.
The stories you read about here are just a small sample of the impact of gifts and prayers from supporters like you. Not only have we received words of thanksgiving from the many internally displaced people being helped by the church, but members of these church communities have expressed sincere gratitude, as well. It is through partnerships with organizations like Children’s Hunger Fund and Slavic Gospel Association that local churches throughout Ukraine are being equipped with the food and aid that allows them to minister to families in need and share the hope of the gospel to those facing unimaginable darkness and despair.
6/2/22 Update
Last week, we shared with you about the ministry being done through our partnership at Slavic Gospel Association (SGA). Similar stories have also been shared with our partners at Mission Eurasia, to whom we recently sent another emergency relief grant. This funding was used to purchase food items to fill the iCare food packages that are a part of their mercy ministry program. Like Children’s Hunger Fund, Mission Eurasia emphasizes the value of training and equipping the local church for evangelism.
Mission Eurasia President Sergey Rakhuba recently shared with us, “What you don’t see—what I wish the whole world could see—is how Christ is mightily at work, opening hearts to hear the Good News, and how Mission Eurasia’s outreach, in partnership with others, is sharing Christ’s love and mercy with hurting people every day.”
Pastor Roman, who is running the Mission Eurasia relief center in western Ukraine, shared that ministry workers there have really risen to the challenge to serve the hurting with food and the hope of the gospel. When times became hard, those who had received training in mercy ministry didn’t hesitate to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
“Daily work done by Christians has a tremendous influence on society these days,” he shared. “The level of trust which was undermined greatly during the atheistic regime of the Soviet Union is now changing for the better during these difficult days for every Ukrainian.”
Please pray with us:
- Pray that the ministry workers would not grow weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9) and would be granted the energy and encouragement to continue doing the work of the ministry.
- Pray that those being served would see that the gospel is more than just words—that the local church cares for them, body and soul.
- Pray for the logistics involved in getting Food Paks to where they need to be, whether it is shipped from the US, purchased in Ukraine, or purchased in a neighboring country and transported across the border.
- Pray for the safety of those who remain in Ukraine, those who have been displaced from their homes, those relying on the kindness of others, and those willingly heading toward danger in order to bring food and hope to those in need.
- Pray for an end to the war and healing for the people of Ukraine.
- Pray, above all, that Christ would be made known, and hearts would be transformed by the good news of the gospel.
5/22/22 Update
Through our relationship with Slavic Gospel Association (SGA)—our Mercy Network partner in Ukraine—we have been able to provide funding to purchase food in Poland that will be shipped across the border into Ukraine. Once there, pallets of food—each one with enough to serve 100 families for one week—are distributed to local churches in Ukraine.
Since the war began, Children’s Hunger Fund has funded almost a hundred pallets of food from Poland into Ukraine. With God’s grace and the continued support of our partners, SGA plans to ship two loads each week over the next three months. Your support can help make this happen.
Recently, another emergency relief grant was just sent to our partners. It will be used to purchase food in Poland and ship it across the border to support the mercy ministry of local churches in Ukraine—enough to provide food for 9,500 refugee families for one week.
Local churches throughout Ukraine—including those outside of our own Mercy Network—have shared with SGA how mercy ministry has impacted their communities. By providing for the people’s essential need for food, they also gain an opportunity to share the gospel.
The testimonies below represent just a small portion of the feedback our partners have received from the people served by these ministries.
- I took your book (New Testament) along with a grocery package. I read it all the time and realized that I should have taken it and read a long time ago.
- When I started coming to you, I had a desire to live because, before that, we didn’t know how to live and what to do next. I am always drawn to this place as well as to my home.
- I really wanted to eat, but there was nothing, and a neighbor told me that there were believers who gave people food. So I ran to you, and now I am with you. I came for food for my body and found faith.
- A young lady lives close to our church. She told me that she often passed by you, but had no desire to come to you. But when the war started, it was her desire to come.
- Life has been very difficult since I was a little girl, and it still the same today. But when I came to you, I realized that there was a different life, a life with God. I am very happy.
- Glory be to God for everything. You have such an atmosphere here that even we don’t have at home. Thank you very much.
- I am 80 years old. The first time I came here and heard your sermon, I liked it and something touched my heart. And then I realized that I had been living wrong all my life. But, thank God, now I read and study the Bible, and it brings me joy.
5/11/22 Update
Recently, local pastors in a city just outside of Kyiv, Ukraine received a shipment of 32 pallets. This shipment of aid came from Poland and through our partnership with Slavic Gospel Association (SGA).
Pastor Sergei shared this with our SGA partners: “Every day, people come and get free lunch or dinner. During meals, I try to tell the gospel for ten to fifteen minutes and answer people’s questions on spiritual topics. Many people have never attended church before. Some began to come to our church meetings or to see Christian films. Recently, two people prayed with me a prayer of repentance.
“In addition to food, members of our church help people cover broken windows with film. We provide film free of charge. Also, people draw water from our well on the territory of the church for free. Many people who now come to our church for help are those whom we helped with the evacuation from [the city] in early March. Now they have returned to [the city] and are coming to us. They are very grateful to us and God!”
Local churches continue to be a light during dark times for the people of Ukraine. Through our partnership with SGA and other partners in surrounding countries, your gift toward our Emergency Relief fund can bring physical relief to those in desperate need and spiritual comfort to those without hope.
Thank you for your compassion and your continued prayers for the people of Ukraine.
5/4/22 Update
In this week’s update, we are blessed to share feedback from Pastor Vladimir, one of our Mercy Network partners in Ukraine:
“We have visited 50 families. We are very sorry for we have not taken any pictures. As for the stories, we just have words of gratitude from the people we have helped. Nowadays, people are so scared that they are afraid of saying a lot.
“Most of the families moved to villages or abroad, leaving only men at home. But men want to eat, too. Unfortunately, it’s very hard for them to share a testimony. The only thing we could get from them was a stingy man’s tear and words of gratitude for caring for them. We told them that it was God’s care for them.
“There were very few words, but the churches are overcrowded, not only in the bomb shelters during the alarm, but also at church services. Many people have repented, asking for God’s protection.”
Gratitude is a constant theme throughout the various feedback coming in from our partners in Ukraine, as well as our partners in Romania. Thanks to the generosity of so many supporters, we have been able to provide our partners with enough funding for over a million meals! Those meals are providing local pastors in Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, and Poland with the resources to reach families in need with compassion, food, and the hope of the gospel.
It is thanks to generosity from partners like you that hearts are being transformed. It is our honor to share with you just a few of the photos we’ve received from our partners. We hope these smiles are an encouragement to you that your generosity and prayers are appreciated.
4/27/22 Update
Earlier this month, fifteen pallets of donated food were shipped out from our Los Angeles Distribution Center, bound for Ukraine. These fifteen pallets contain enough food to provide 116,640 meals. The food was transported to New Jersey, where it was air-shipped to Ukraine and transported to a warehouse in Brovary, near Kyiv.
Unlike ocean freight—which can take several weeks to arrive—air freight allows products to arrive within a few days.
Just two weeks ago, a second shipment of food was air-shipped to our partners, this time containing enough food to provide 285,120 meals. We ask that you pray alongside us for the logistics involved in getting these meals distributed to the churches we serve and that those meals would be a vital tool in sharing the gospel with families in need throughout Ukraine.
We are grateful for our partnership with Guidelight, which has made it possible to get meals to our partners more quickly.
4/13/22 Update
What role does choice make in the current crisis in Ukraine?
For families in Ukraine, the choice to stay in their homes or flee to a safer location is a very real decision. Both options hold a great deal of uncertainty. If they stay, will they be safe? How will they get food? If they leave, where will they go? Will they find a place to sleep? How will they get food? Will they ever be able to return to their home?
Many of the pastors supported by Slavic Gospel Association—our ministry partner in Ukraine—have made the choice to remain in Ukraine so that they can serve the people there. One pastor shared, “Almost our entire church decided not to evacuate, but to stay and serve the people. We realized that we should try to distribute food to the remaining people in our area of Kyiv. We bought groceries with church money and began to invite people from the street. On the third day, we served 600 people.”
The pastors who have chosen to stay and serve and those from other countries who have stepped up to aid in the refugee crisis know that the gospel message of hope is greater than any delivery of food or medicine they could provide. We continue to praise God for the faithfulness of these men and women who continue to find their hope and strength in Christ despite the suffering around them.
Please pray with us:
- Pray for an end to the violence and for God’s peace to be known.
- Pray for safety for those choosing to remain in Ukraine and those unable to evacuate.
- Pray for God’s protection over the pastors and church volunteers who have chosen to remain to serve the people in Ukraine.
- Pray for the transportation needs of our partners—both those transporting food and other resources and those transporting refugees to the borders.
- Pray that the gospel would be received by those who hear it and lives would be transformed.
4/5/22 Update
Once again, our partners in Romania have shared a story of hope from the frontlines in Ukraine.
Pastor Viorel, our partner in Romania, met with a Ukrainian family being cared for by a church in Craiova, Romania. The family shared their distress over their grandmother back in Ukraine who was too sick to travel with them when they fled their country.
Pastor Viorel contacted his son, Beni, who was in Ukraine taking another delivery of food over the border. With the help of a local pastor in Ukraine, Beni was able to locate the grandmother—now well enough to travel—and get her safely across the border. The family was reunited in Craiova.
In addition to the funding that has allowed our partners in Romania to purchase and deliver food across the border, Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF) was able to send funding to our partners in Romania that can provide another 200,000 meals. Plans are being finalized for another trip across the border to deliver food into Ukraine.
A new partnership with Poland Christian Ministries (PCM) in Poland will allow CHF to serve at least 18 churches in Poland who have been providing food and shelter for refugees. CHF recently finalized funding to PCM that can provide 80,000 meals for Ukrainian refugees being served by their ministry. One pastor in Warsaw shared about his church’s activities over the past four weeks:
“We are looking for apartments, organizing collections, meeting people at the crossings, arranging transport for fleeing people, and bringing humanitarian help to Ukraine. We organize food, clothing, and whatever is needed for those who are with us. We hug, talk, and pray. As of today, we have helped place 1,500 refugees. In this next week, we have buses scheduled to carry refugees to the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.”
In Moldova, new partners at Kishinev Bible Church Ministries (KBC) are supporting 40 “centers” to care for anywhere between 50 and 200 refugees. These centers are a combination of church buildings, offices, Christian camps, rental spaces, and private homes. Funding provided by CHF can provide 80,000 meals to support these centers.
Mission Eurasia is another organization with whom CHF has formed a partnership. CHF sent funding to provide food for a warehouse in Ukraine where food packages are being built. Mission Eurasia—which is based out of Illinois—plans to ship 8-10 containers of food to Moldova each month for the next few months. CHF is supporting this effort with funding for three of those containers.
We are thankful for new partnerships that are dedicated to serving those in need and sharing the hope of the gospel as well as your prayer and support that makes this ministry happen.
3/30/22 Update
Even while curfews are announced and martial law is introduced across Ukraine, our Mercy Network church partners in Ukraine remain thankful that the Lord has allowed them the opportunity to continue to minister to their communities.
Recently, one of our pastors in central Ukraine shared with us, “For the last three weeks, we have received 30-40 people every day. Those people stay overnight in the homes of church members. Most of them are families with little children. We cook dinner and breakfast for them and provide some food for the trip.”
The pastor shared about one family that was invited to stay in his home. “The children are very frightened,” he shared. “Praise God, after being quiet for a while, they started playing games. When they came, they were so hungry. When we offered them something to eat, the middle girl grabbed a bun and stuffed it into her mouth in two bites. I haven’t seen such a thing.” The family continued west the following morning and called the pastor every four hours until they reached safety in a city near the border of Romania.
Another nearby church has also offered lodging for refugees traveling toward Western Ukraine, Moldova, and Poland. They have also used funds from relief funds from Children’s Hunger Fund to purchase food and hygiene products for the military battalion stationed in town, a local rehabilitation center, as well as families who have remained in the area.
Andrew, the father of one family visited by the church, shared about his initial skepticism toward the church. After several visits from the church, he opened up and shared his fears about providing for his family after losing his job. His children had been sent to their grandmother’s home, which had a good basement to provide protection in case of an air attack.
“We prayed for Andrew’s family,” the pastor shared with us. “After our visit, he cheered up. He said that all his life, he had tried to earn on his own, as he didn’t want to depend on anyone. But in the most critical period of his life, God and His people came to him and supported him and his family.”
Despite violence and war, stories like this continue to be shared. More families are open to hearing the message of the gospel. Thank you for your prayers and your support as our partners in Ukraine continue to minister to those in need in Ukraine.
Recipients’ names have been changed to protect their privacy. Pastors’ names and locations have been removed for their protection.
3/23/22 Update
Even as Russian forces crossed the border into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, our church partners in Ukraine have maintained the same goal as always: to bring help and hope to people in need. As thousands and thousands of Ukrainians began fleeing their homeland in search of safety, our partners in Romania began to make plans to respond.
Here in the US, Children’s Hunger Fund has been reaching out to our partners and other organizations to see how we can best provide assistance with the refugee crisis in Ukraine. An emergency relief grant for $30,000 was wired to our partners in Romania, and when our partner went to the bank to retrieve the funds, the bank manager inquired about the large sum. Our partner, Pastor Viorel, shared with the manager about his partnership with Children’s Hunger Fund and that the money would be used to provide aid to Ukrainian refugees. The manager immediately called her main branch in Bucharest and asked for the best exchange rate possible. With tears in her eyes, she shared her gratitude for the work being done.
Our partners used the funds to purchase canned pork, soup, corn, and goulash. The food was loaded up into a van and was driven across the border and delivered to the cities that were bombed. There are plans to take more deliveries across the border, but that will depend on how many vans are able to cross the border. A portion of the funds will also be used by a church in Romania to provide for over 60 Ukrainian orphans.
Even as bombs continue to fall, our partners in Ukraine have remained faithful to their mission to deliver hope to people in need. People are still gathering to worship. Food is being delivered. The gospel continues to be shared. Hear more from our partners in our recent post.
Please pray with us:
- Pray for peace and a swift end to the conflict.
- Pray for the safety of our partners in Ukraine as they faithfully serve the people in their communities at great personal risk.
- Pray for the safety of our partners in Romania as they cross the border to provide desperately needed resources.
- Pray for the churches in neighboring countries who are taking in refugees.
- Pray that funding would be provided to assist those who are aiding with the refugee crisis.
Pray that, despite everything, the gospel would be proclaimed and that God’s love would be made known.
