From the Superintendent's DESK

Through our contacts in Romania, funds have been used to help with the relief effort for the Ukrainian people. The aid has gone toward housing some of the refugees pouring into Romania and providing essentials to those who are still struggling to survive in war ravaged areas of the Ukraine.

These efforts are primarily taking place in the north central part of Romania bordering southern Ukraine and the southeastern part of Romania where refugees from the Odessa area of the Ukraine have sought shelter.

The process of getting aid to the Ukrainians has been to receive groups of people at a church site in Romania. The women, children, and elderly are given shelter while the men return to help with the defense of their cities and country. Supplies are sent back with the returning vehicles to help the people in the Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kyiv, and Odessa regions. 

One of the Romania pastors we are working with sent news of a recent relief effort. He said that on Monday, a group from Ukraine, led by a military chaplain, arrived in two vans. Three of the women were taken in by the church, which has opened its community center to refugees. The chaplain was taken to the store where donated funds were used to buy food, clothing, and other essentials for distribution in the Odessa area.

Among the food purchases were 2800 canned goods and 1000 instant soups. Hundreds of clothing items were also bought, including jackets, shoes, socks, and thermal wear, because it is currently snowing in Ukraine. Sleeping bags were added as well.

In addition to these items, the congregation donated medicine, flashlights and batteries, and more clothes. After the vans were loaded, the Romanian group prayed over the drivers, entrusting them and their cargo into God’s hands for the return trip to Ukraine.

Two more vans are expected to arrive at this location later this week, and the hope is to load them with medical supplies for the sick and wounded in the Odessa area.

The Ukrainian refugees arriving in Romania give heartrending accounts of the conditions in their hometowns and of the loss of life. The three women taken in this week shed many tears for the men in their family left behind. As we remember the Ukrainian people in our prayers, let us pray for these women and their families as well as all who are working in the relief effort.