In our last update from Ukraine, we introduced you to a brand new camp meant to help students build life-changing job skills for their future. Today, we’d like to share another important aspect of our ministry to children and families in crisis.

In many ways, this ministry represents our heartbeat in Ukraine.

Our team writes—

We believe God has a good plan for each one of us.

No exceptions.

From the youngest child living in an orphanage to families in crisis who are hanging on by a thread, we believe God cares and loves each one more deeply than we can imagine.

So we believe it’s His desire for us to be His hands and feet on earth to reach each child and family in need.

Here in Ukraine, we care deeply about families in crisis.

Whether the crisis exists because of poverty, alcoholism, illness, or something else, it’s our prayer that we can encourage and guide these families to the hope and redemption promised in Jesus Christ.

Today, we have more than 150 local families in our care, but that number continues to grow because of the current crisis, made even worse this year by the global pandemic.

Our goal is to build good relationships with them and offer tangible help—including food drops—when needed. Ultimately, we want to prevent orphan crises and also ensure the protection of children from any and all abuse.

Recently, we hosted an exciting day-camp program.

We invited children from the families we’re working with to come and enjoy a day together. About 50 children came and participated in the games, sports activities, and Bible classes. We also offered food and clothing distribution.

Our main goal is to break unhealthy orphan cycles and help keep families together.

We believe that each child and family who are helped in a time of crisis represents a generation who can be spared from the devastating cycles that harmed them in the first place.

We’re expanding our ministry to families and children in crisis.

We currently run three day-centers for the children from the families we work with, and we’re working to add a fourth.

Our main activities in the day-centers include:

• lunch and snacks
• chess and Lego club
• help and tutoring with school assignments
• Bible lessons
• various masterclasses

“We decided to commit our lives to change this world for the better by serving vulnerable people. We need your prayer support, because we know we have many miles to go to achieve this goal. Yet, each time we look back, we see so many lives changed by the grace of God.” — Bogdan Mazur, Ukraine team leader

Family preservation is important because it prevents orphans and helps save generations. Crisis easily becomes a vicious cycle that never ends. Only God can break this cycle of helplessness, but in His goodness, He is using people like you to do it.

Please pray with us and for us not only to meet the needs of families in crisis but also to build strong relationships with these families that will ultimately lead them to hope in Christ.

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