Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine continues, and many Ukrainians, saving their lives and the lives of their children, are forced to leave their homes, property — everything they had in places where active hostilities are currently ongoing.
“We lived in the basement of our house for several months. There were a lot of drones in the air. Constant shelling of Russian artillery. Shells hit our house several times. The last time that left us homeless was when on New Year’s Eve, January 1, a shell flew through the front door, and the house caught fire. The house was on fire so badly that we couldn’t put out the fire. We ran out of the house, grabbed only documents,” says Vitaliy, the father of the Petrechenko family from the city of Kostiantynivka.
Maria, a student of one of the Ukrainian universities, continues her father’s story. “The most difficult thing was to live in the basement for six months, because you can’t see the sun, you don’t have access to the Internet, and I study at the institute.
I am very grateful to the military who took us out and to you for your help. This is the only help we can get in our circumstances. My dream is to graduate from the institute and see a stable, happy life. It’s the only thing I can dream of.”
“I have very serious health complications due to the war. I am 54 years old, I have severe depression and yesterday I learned from doctors that I have cataracts in both eyes. We need an urgent operation,” says mother Olena about the consequences of living under constant shelling.
The team of the Mission of Kindness charity project, launched by the NGO “We Can!”, came to the Logos Rehabilitation and Social Assistance Center in the Kyiv region to provide assistance to those who are now called refugees or internally displaced persons.
A roof over your head, food, clothes are simple but vital things. But for many Ukrainian families who lost their homes, jobs, and the opportunity to provide their children with the most necessary things due to the war, this has become a daily challenge.
The Logos Social Assistance Center has become a shelter for them — a safe place where parents can rebuild their lives and make new plans, and children can fall asleep peacefully.
“The main goal of the center is, first of all, to make good changes in people’s lives, to do good in the name of the Lord.
When the war in eastern Ukraine began, we opened the doors of our center primarily to refugees, large families and families who were persecuted because of their pro-Ukrainian positions.
In this center, we are able to support such families by providing housing, food and creating decent, decent conditions. This is made possible by the support of organizations like yours as well as other organizations. I believe that our mission was worthy and successfully implemented,” says Father Mykola Ilnytskyi, founder of the Logos Rehabilitation and Social Assistance Center, priest of the OCU.
“We lived in Kramatorsk. Early in the morning of May 7, 2022, a Russian shell landed and destroyed everything that was nearby within a radius of half a kilometer, everyone was injured in the house,” says Natalia Sushko, mother of three girls.
“It was a vacuum bomb, five meters deep crater. And our house was destroyed,” adds Father Artur.
“We were forced to move to another city. We lived there with my family while the front was still far away. Now it is generally dangerous to be there. Drones are flying, various shells. For children, it is stressful, it is impossible to study at school, shops are closed. We were forced to leave there, fleeing. Everything was left. The main thing is that the children are safe now,” Natalia continues with trembling in her voice.
“When one day there was a shell strike near our house,
The windows in the house were blown out. And my husband and I decided to take our children to a safe place. We left the house for which we collected penny by penny and which we bought just before the war for our large family. We left all the furniture, all the clothes there, because we arrived in a small car, there was nowhere to put these clothes. What we were in, that’s what we came in,” Viktoria Lytvynenko shares the story of her family.
“My son and grandson are fighting at the front. My son was already wounded. I was left alone. There are battles in our region, it is very dangerous to live. That’s why I moved to this center. I feel that God is near. Thank you very much for your support, for warm clothes, bedding. Everything will be fine. We are waiting for better days,” says Oleksandra Prokopyuk from the Kharkiv region with tears in her eyes.
For families affected by the war, whose hearts are filled with the pain of loss and fear for the future, it is extremely important to feel the support of kind and sympathetic people nearby.
Today they begin a new stage of life. Parents need to find a job, put their children in school, provide them with regular meals, buy shoes and clothes, because children are growing up, and the things they managed to take with them wear out quickly and no longer correspond to the season.
Our friends from America responded to help these families. Christians from the Capitol Hill Assembly Church, although geographically far from Ukraine, have become close because of their prayers and sincere support.
Thanks to them, the Mission of Kindness project team was able to purchase food kits so that families could have hot and healthy food, as well as detergents and bed linen. These simple household items return people to the sense of stability and home comfort they need so much.
New shoes and clothes for children and adults have become a real blessing. With the advent of spring, winter clothes are no longer suitable – they are too warm and uncomfortable. Now children will be able to go to school comfortably, and for parents, this support will help save money on other important needs of the family, because there are still many challenges ahead.
“Thank you very much. This help is very much needed for our family.
Nice shoes, girls really like it.”
“I thank the American friends who have given me many gifts for my family.”
“Thank you for helping us, bringing food, clothes, we live by it. You provide very valuable assistance.”
These words of gratitude are addressed to Christians from America, as well as viewers of the TBN UA channel and partners of the public organization “We Can!”, who united around this charity event, did not stay away from the trouble of Ukrainians and shared the warmth of their hearts.
This help includes not only things and food, but also a living answer to the prayers of these families heard by God.
The joy in their eyes is the best gratitude that inspires them to continue doing good.
Vitaliy Stebenev
President of the NGO “We can!”
You can watch the story about help in this video: