Ukrainian Emergency Response

Helping people in Ukraine and those who are seeking refuge in neighboring countries

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The Need

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 unleashed a major humanitarian crisis in Europe. People in the Ukraine are in need of essential provisions including water, food, medicine, shelter, etc.

The numbers change from day to day. What remains consistent is that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes - and millions more have been forced to flee their homeland since the Russian invasion began. While the majority fled to Poland, tens of thousands fled to other neighboring countries, including Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova.

Unloading relief supplies in Ukraine
A Ukrainian home destroyed by the Russian military
Mattresses on the floor of a Christian center offering shelter to IDP in western Ukraine
Unloading relief in Ukraine from a vehicle funded by IAFR
Ukrainians walking to the border of the EU to seek refuge
A Ukrainian bomb shelter
A Polish church on the Ukrainian border
Ukrainian refugees find shelter in the attic of a Polish church
A vehicle brings assistance to people who need it
Women find assistance at a church distribution center
A vanload of relief ready to go to those who need it most
A mother and child receive assistance

Photos of the humanitarian response of IAFR partners

PRIORITIES

When we began, the priority need was for vehicles in Ukraine to help transport assistance to vulnerable people.

Then the most pressing need became food. The vehicles we helped provide were soon transporting food into conflict zones. When the vehicles dropped their load, they filled with people needing to evacuate to safety.

As winter approached, the priority need shifted to help people survive the cold. So we helped buy and transport generators and wood burning stoves.

At the request of church leaders in Ukraine, we prioritized assisting Ukrainian pastors and their families through the winter as many lacked the ability to heat their homes and pay their electricity bills. In November 2022, hundreds were forced to leave their homes and communities for this reason.

The need to strengthen hope and provide safe and supportive community is something that only the local churches can do, so it was critical to help pastors with this need so that they can stay to serve the people in their communities.

Thanks to the generosity of our financial partners, we were able to send over $20,000 in assistance in February 2024. The needs are many as the war grinds on. On behalf of the churches in Ukraine, thank you for your continued prayers and solidarity.

The generosity of our financial partners has been remarkable as we work together to help people survive and recover from the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine.

CURRENT GOAL

Our goal is to send at least another $40,000 of assistance in 2024 to assist church-based ministries in Ukraine that are helping widows and the fatherless.

PROGRESS

We are thankful to our generous financial partners as we have received $223,600 in donations to assist the people of Ukraine through Ukrainian churches since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In February 2024, we sent just under $20,500 to our church partner in Slovakia to support current priority needs as determined by church leaders in Ukraine.

In 2023, we contributed just under $19,400 of assistance to support churched based ministries helping widows and the fatherless.

In 2022, we sent nearly $170,000 of assistance that helped Ukrainian pastors (and their families) stay in their communities by assisting them with costs related to heating and power.food and other basic assistance to vulnerable people in Ukraine.

In 2022, we also provided several vehicles to help get assistance to where it was most needed - and to help get people out of conflict zones.

Funds have provided shelter, meals, clothing, transportation, and other kinds of practical assistance. Showers, toilets, and washing machines have been installed to help those sheltering uprooted Ukrainians meet these basic needs.

OUR PARTNERS

We are focusing our efforts on helping local churches in Ukraine respond to the crisis in the region. Their important work is often not on the radar of international agencies.

Together with a church in Kosice, Slovakia, we are listening to church leaders in Ukraine as they inform us of critical needs on the ground.

Updated: 15 February 2024

IAFR is a member of the ICVA Network.

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