COMPASSION UKRAINE
A TIME IN HISTORY THAT CALLS US TO ACTION
Hello friends,
As we prepare to send this newsletter out to you, the brutal Russian aggression causing massive loss of lives and injuries to people in Ukraine continues. Millions of people have been displaced as they have been forced out of their homes, and families have been separated as men have had to stay behind to fight for their homeland.
Our team just returned from Romania, one of the border countries of Ukraine receiving hundreds of thousands of refugees. We have met and talked to the people at the heart of this crisis, and their faith, fearlessness, and resilience have only inspired us.
Your generosity has allowed us to send supplies across Ukraine. Our initial focus has been sending supplies to Odesa in the South, where there is a massive shortage of food and medical supplies.
We are happy to report that two truckloads of relief supplies, including generators, tents, tables, chairs, lifesaving medications including insulin, food, winter jackets, baby food, diapers, and sleeping bags, have reached the people for whom it was intended. Getting a supply chain established in a war zone has been quite supernatural. We received appreciation from USAID personnel from the US State Department who were on the ground to assess the situation.
Odessa is receiving continuous shelling from Russian warships on the Black Sea; there is an expectation of imminent large-scale bombing, so we are making every effort to push in more supplies.
The most urgent need is food and generators and we are helping meet that need.
This week we are sending additional truckloads with deep freezers, generators, and food supplies. Our partners in Odesa are also working with the city mayor to prioritize setting up large feeding centers for the people in Odesa. Odesa is also a hub for us to take supplies into Mykolaiv, which has been severely bombed, leading to a desperate humanitarian crisis. We are also working with a Romanian non-profit – Fight for Freedom, taking supplies from Suceava, Romania, across Ukraine, even into cities destroyed by the Russian bombing.
Our first mission is to send diesel generators across Ukraine, where they have lost power. Hospitals are in urgent need of generators. Because of your generosity, we are sourcing another 27 generators in the next few days to send to places where they are desperately waiting for power. YouCanFreeUs is also sending food supplies to refugee centers in the country of Moldova, where Ukrainians have sought refuge following the bombings of their cities.
Our team of 10, including five from the US, one from the UK, two from Romania, and two from Ukraine, will never be the same again. We have seen their suffering, loss, and fear for tomorrow, and we are grateful we could come alongside them and provide for them.
UKRAINE,
You are not alone
Our commitment to Ukraine continues. We are actively engaged in sending more supplies.
Thank you, donors, for your outpouring of generosity
