With almost two years into the bloodiest war since WWII, the Ukrainian nation is still going through the terrible ordeal, incurring numerous losses on a daily basis.
The fighting in the frontline is terrible, industrial and residential areas all over the country are regularly under missile and drone attacks, causing many casualties both among the military and civilians, damaging and destroying infrastructure. The number of people who have lost their homes, property, health is constantly on the rise.
Although this winter has seen less power outages and blackouts so far than the previous one, when the power grid and power stations were regularly targeted in an attempt to leave Ukrainians without electricity, heating, water and other utilities, the economic situation is deteriorating.
It means that the number of poor people who can’t afford food or other necessities has significantly increased. They include internally displaced persons, the needy, families who have lost their breadwinners, families with many children, unemployed, homeless and other vulnerable groups.
As a reminder, considering the severity of the Ukrainian winter, with the temperature often below 10 (14 °F) or sometimes even 20 degrees by Celsius (- 4 °F), life without electricity, water and heating is a matter of survival for many people.
Aside from the material needs, many Ukrainians are suffering from emotional traumas, disappointment or even depression in view of uncertainty, and, therefore, are in great need of accompanying encouragement, counseling and healing. What is most important they all need to see the love of Christ which is revealed to them through feasible assistance and support provided by Christians.
Therefore, in addition to our educational activities, we continue our ministry to the needy from the seminary neighborhood by serving them hot meals (for many of them it is still the only hot meal a day) and providing poor families in villages around Kyiv with food products, fire wood, heaters, power generators, charging stations, worm clothes and other winterization items that could help them go through the second harsh winter of the ongoing war.
Besides, we have engaged in this ministry a number of Christian churches, charities and organizations from different parts of Ukraine where UETS students and graduates also serve various war-affected people. This approach has enabled us to increase the number of ‘hands’ involved in helping the needy beyond the physical capabilities of the seminary team and, therefore, expand our winterization ministry to reach out to more people with humanitarian assistance, emotional and spiritual support in different parts of Ukraine.
We are enormously grateful to God and our partners who help us relief the pain of our suffering nation and, in this way, show our fellow citizens the love of Christ. Without your assistance we would not be able to keep this ministry running in the current scope.
