Heat and Hope outreach helping Ukrainians facing dark winter
As Kansas Citians experience their first taste of winter, Ukrainians are bracing for freezing temperatures and hours-long power blackouts. “This winter stands to be one of the most brutal experiences they’ve gone through,” said Eric Mock, senior vice president of ministry operations for the Slavic Gospel Association.
His organization has launched an emergency response, Heat and Hope, to supply firewood, coal, blankets and warm clothes to Ukrainian families, as well as generators to local evangelical churches in Ukraine doubling as community warming centers. The ongoing war has entered a somber new phase, with almost daily attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and electricity outages lasting up to 18 hours, which means no light and no heat. “Many cannot afford to buy firewood,” said Dmytro, a local pastor.
Dmytro is one of several local ministers risking their lives to help families living in the “gray zone” of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, just a few miles from the frontline. Every day, pastors supported by the Slavic Gospel Association put on body armor and go to frontline villages, distributing aid, sharing the gospel message and praying with the fearful and the frozen.
In the gray zone, the elderly, sick, young children and those with disabilities are especially vulnerable as attacks intensify and power outages increase. “Constant shelling, anxiety and stress are causing a large number of illnesses,” Dmytro said.
Natalia and her husband, Oleksandr, fled for their lives after their house was bombed and their entire town was virtually wiped out. Oleksandr became seriously ill and spent three weeks in the hospital, worsening the couple’s stress and financial worries.
“When the electricity goes off, we sit in the dark,” Natalia said. “We worry most about heating. We don’t have money to buy firewood.”
But something happened recently that Natalia and Oleksandr did not expect — a surprise delivery of firewood from a local pastor partnering with the Heat and Hope relief effort. “They even helped unload it,” Natalia said. “Thank God for these people.”
Mock, a pastor in the United States and a frequent visitor to Ukraine, described the coming months as Ukraine’s “darkest winter” of the war. “They desperately need our help and prayers,” he said. “This winter could be the worst yet.”
The US is pushing for a peace deal that would force Ukraine to give up 15% of its territory and millions of people to Russia.
For more information, visit www.sga.org.
–Alan Goforth
