Making an immediate impact through existing connections and local relationships.
Making an immediate impact through existing connections and local relationships.
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Our Outreach and Evolving Ministries (2024 to Present)
Our Outreach and Evolving Ministries (2024 to Present)
We started 2024 with a mission trip to Ukraine. In January, Alex, Yanna, and Kate traveled to Kamianets-Podilskyi to do youth outreach and encourage leaders who have been faithfully serving. We visited a church in the village of Zalissya and organized outreach for local kids where we shared relevant teaching, worshiped and played games together, as well as provided dinner. We also met with local leaders and mentors where we shared a beautiful evening of dinner, testimonies and worship.
During that visit Victoria joined our team to begin leading a youth outreach ministry in Zalissya. She mentors teen girls, meeting regularly to teach Bible lessons and various life skills. Many kids there come from broken homes and are in need of her guidance and support.
Due to the overall decrease in donations, our support going to Ukraine needed to be scaled back. The humanitarian aid and evangelism ministry which Maryana and Volodymyr have been faithfully doing since the beginning of the war experienced disruptions from frequent evacuations, and was one ministry where we had to minimize contributions.
Due to the intensifying attacks in and around Kharkiv their family needed to relocate to a village near Uman where they continue the rehabilitation ministry in a much smaller capacity. Some of the men in their program have been saved and baptized and now serve in the local church, helping with various tasks and manual labor. They also offer woodworking activities to kids in their village.
Orphanages in Ukraine continue to close and many orphans, including children whose parents are unable to take care of them, are now joining foster families. Last fall Maryana introduced us to an elderly couple who is fostering many kids this way.
Victor and Elena Ivanchenko have fostered 27 children since 2008 and still have 16 children of different ages living with them now. Last year they also became displaced, having to leave their home in Zaporizhya to find a place farther from the conflict area where the dangers are still high. We helped them pay various dental and other medical bills and also provided funds to purchase winter shoes for the kids.
When the Ivanchenko family moved to Uman the local government gave them a big house to accommodate their unusually large family, which came with higher costs for heat and utilities. Additionally, the electrical infrastructure in Ukraine continues to be targeted by Russian attacks, so the cost for heating their home and utilities rose significantly this winter.
With more and more men being drafted into the military, hardships on the average Ukranian family continue to grow. This year we began supporting a new ministry for families of military personnel.
Katerina, Christina and Tanya, a group of three new leaders in Kamenets-Podolskiy, started a support group for wives, moms and sisters of soldiers to come together for support, participate in art therapy, and pray for their loved ones who continue to fight for their safety and freedom.
This winter we also sent funds to help with a humanitarian crisis in Kupyansk. This city is in very close proximity to the Russian border and experiences constant shelling and the ever-present threat of occupation. Additionally, this city has no electricity or gas and travel in and out of it is restricted, with the exception of occasional evacuations. Despite all these dangers, people continue to stay.
Our support went to deacon Sergiy Netyosov, a local church leader, who purchased gas, propane, and oil for generators and portable ovens. People come to his house to stay connected with others by charging their phones. On top of those who visit occasionally, many who've lost their homes due to Russian air and artillery strikes also come and stay while they wait to evacuate.
Sergiy and his wife provide a place to sleep, food to eat, and clothing for those who need it.
Thanks to our leaders in Ukraine we've been able to make new connections and hear many stories of those who have been affected by the war. Some of our supporters have responded with encouraging letters and one-time financial gifts for widows of this conflict. Some of these have even resulted in ongoing correspondence.
Lastly. this year we've organized three fundraisers in the United States which gave us an opportunity to share about these individuals and all the other ongoing ministry in Ukraine.
We are thankful to our home church, Grace Community, for offering us the place to host these events and for the spotlight opportunities during the various services! We're also grateful for everyone who helped make these events possible and to the many others who attended and donated!
Thanks to all the financial support given in 2024, we will be able to continue supporting several of these ministries well into 2025. We plan to continue our outreach through them, helping the people of Ukraine during these difficult times. We'll continue to share with you their stories and the impact your generosity is having on their lives!
Strong, thriving families are the backbone of every healthy community!
Kam'yanets-Podilskyi - our base of operations in Ukraine.
Our Outreach and Evolving Ministries (Prior to 2024)
Our Outreach and Evolving Ministries (Prior to 2024)
Our Past Operations (May 2022 - Jan 2024)
Our Past Operations (May 2022 - Jan 2024)
Provide our Kharkiv team with resources to transport food, medicine, and winter necessities from stores in the west to elderly and disabled citizens who remain in areas of active conflict.
Equipping our local Zalyssa team with resources to shelter and assist displaced refugees at safe homes and buildings in local villages.
Visit our leaders in Ukraine to support and encourage them in the field as well as assist in organizing and hosting various outreach events during our war-time visits.
One of many deliveries to the Kharkiv region.
Zalyssa community outreach home.
Since October 2021 (through May 2022)
Since October 2021 (through May 2022)
Prior to war, we were assisting a local minister in caring for poor and displaced families in the small village of Zalyssa Pershe, in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast.
With the support of our local community in Montrose, Colorado (and beyond) we've helped raise financial assistance to meet every identified need over the past year and have coordinated with local volunteers currently living in Kam'yanets-Podilskyi to shelter and feed refugees who fled from invading military forces in Eastern Ukraine in 2022.
Throughout the conflict, we've been sustaining the efforts of multiple teams on the ground in Ukraine with resources to provide for critical needs as well as additional assistance for some who have lost everything.
We also support a courageous team who regularly drive supplies into the heavily assaulted Kharkiv area, reaching elderly and disabled who are unable to relocate on their own. This ministry has impacted over 6000 people in this war torn region since the invasion began in February 2022.
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