Help for Ukraine – Updates

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Articles in Polish about our Help for Ukraine efforts
(in Polish but you turn your google translate on):
1. https://wroclaw.niedziela.pl/artykul/77932/Czy-ta-wojna-ma-wymiar-eschatologiczny
2. https://wroclaw.gosc.pl/doc/7377688.Wspolnota-Hallelu-Jah-przyjmuje-uchodzcow-do-swoich-domow-i

Updates (april 14)

Testimony:

#1. Unexpected story

A lot is still ahead but the first weeks are already writing stories on our hearts and they are changing us from the inside.

What changes are ahead? What fruit will they bring? Love produces fruit in abundance. We will be known by our fruit. We would like to invite you to read a testimony of one of our Hallelu Jah families hosting a Ukrainian family.

We have not pondered if we should invite someone from Ukraine under our roof, but straight forward we were just considering how many we can squeeze, understanding that this is a long-term commitment. We had two rooms to spare. Our daughter Klara came to us and also proposed for us to join the effort and we signed up to help.

We have received Natalia and her 5-year-old soon Vadim last Tuesday. We knew their trip took some time and we have welcomed them to our house as our own family, with tears in our eyes. All of us had to compose ourselves not to fall apart. Natalia was exhausted and stressed. She left her mom, sister, and the rest of her family in Kyiv, and her husband in Lviv. He helped her to go to the border and then signed up for the army reserve. During the first few days we have felt her anxiety and we felt helpless. The first weekend we spent looking for accessories that would enable her husband to survive when he joins the army: helmet and bulletproof vest. But it was impossible, so the only thing left was prayer.

Vadim started to play with our son Max, mostly they played soldiers. They were running and shooting, throwing blocks as grenades. It seemed like child autotherapy, while all adults are focused on war. We perceived it as their games were familiarizing them with things that are too big for their children’s minds.

After the first weekend, Natalia straightened up a bit – and I’m talking literally about her body posture. She was thankful for every bit of help. She started to make Ukrainian meals. We added items to their rooms, we showed them playgrounds. Vadim for the first time in his life went to the swimming pool and his mom was making a short video to be sent to daddy. After a week from arrival, she asked if we could also host Katia, who arrived the same day at the evening. She showed up with her dog and with a lively personality, although she has left her teen daughter behind. Her daughter is considering joining soon. Natalia is a bookkeeper, Katia is a music teacher in a music school. Both arestarting to look for jobs. Maybe tomorrow Vadim will go to Kindergarten.

We don’t feel alone in what we do. We see ourselves as a part of our community’s ministry and this gives us an enormous sense of support and safety. We also receive beautiful gestures from our family and friends. We are convinced that God is blessing our actions and decisions. It’s a great comfort to know that He takes care of everything and that we cooperate with Him. “Guest at home – God at home” (Polish proverb) – we sense iit palpably. Sometimes we can’t even believe that among all that is evil, under our roof goodness is sprouting up, and it is His.

Asia and Krzysiek

 

April 14 Update

At a time that abounds in news that can overwhelm and extinguish hope, we are in a hurry to bring about the opposite.
Weeks have passed, which have unexpectedly opened for our Community completely new areas of service.
The testimonies of these days confirm our certainty that it is being prepared by our Lord. It is He who unites people, events, places, gives inspiration, multiplies the strength to take care of his tormented. It is a great grace to become part of this immensity of goodness, the source of which is the merciful heart of the Father.

• There are still about 100 people under the care of the Community. When some decide to leave Wrocław, God brings others, also from the regions of eastern Ukraine.

• An extraordinary opportunity to meet together, get closer to each other, establish ties was the POLISH-UKRAINIAN Agapa, which was organized by the Community for all its members and families from Ukraine. During it, we had dinner together, together with the Chudoba band we sang Ukrainian songs. It was a beautiful time of being together and joyful despite difficult circumstances.

• The Hallelu Jah Pantry is still operating, which is supplied thanks to donors and sponsors. It is a place where twice a week Ukrainian families and their hosts can replenish their supplies and stock up on the products they need.

• The Polish language school is very popular. Two groups have already been formed, which twice a week have lessons in our Place. Another group will start after Easter.

• In the Scouts of the King, a group for children from Ukraine was created. Seven children joined in. The arleady had first meeting full of emotions 🙂

• In Stronie śląskie, 14 people who are under our care live in the Dworek Galosa hotel. Thanks to your generosity, we can support the cost of their stay in that place.

• We financially supported the Children’s Home from Onofryjówka, they are fleeing the war with 46 children.

The network of contacts is constantly developing, more people are coming to us looking for help or offering specific help.
An extraordinary testimony of God’s action for us are those situations in which, when some communicate a need, others at exactly the same time declare the possibility of support in this particular matter. There are many such situations, which strongly confirms that God stands behind this ministry with His blessing.

We do not leave our Ukrainian families without care and help in dealing with formalities related to stay, work, school and kindergartens.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your undying trust in us. For all spiritual and material support and every dedication of time to this work. We would like to thank the families who have been hosting refugees for many weeks. We are sure that this will bring you the enormity of God’s blessing. Thank you for your testimony of your love, patience and openness.

We entrust ourselves as the Hallelu Jah Community to your prayerful memory. Talk about us to those who are looking for opportunities to help, to support. We do not know what else is ahead, but we believe that with God and you we will be able to do it.

March 14-24

Romans 5:20b-21: Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Facing brutal violence and injustice we respond with goodness, patient love and justice. Where the fear and doubts were sown, we want to pour readiness to help and involvement.

It’s time again for news about supporting Ukraine and immigrants.

  1. In Hallelu Jah and Agalliasis families, we are hosting 117 immigrants, 100 just in Wroclaw.
  1. So far We have spent 52,000PLN ($12,000) for medicine, food, clothes, transportation from the border.
  2. We have spent 7,000 PLN ($1,620) to support hosted families but this is only the beginning.
  3. We are gaining benefactors for families hosted by us.
  4. We have organized transport for 11 immigrants to Portugal.
  5. We are helping 17 people to be transported to Belgium.
  6. Thanks to donations received from Koln, Germany we have sent sleeping mats, sleeping bags, clothes, chargers, and flashlights to Obertyn in Ukraine.
  7. We are organizing and distributing food, hygienic packs, and clothes for our families on a weekly basis.
  8. We take care of the spiritual needs of our immigrant families (prayer meetings and Masses)
  9. Next Sunday we are planning to conduct an integration meeting for our hosted families.
  10. We are cooperating with Dworek Galosa in Stronie Slaskie where we are planning to relocate about 20 people.

We see a great good being done by the hosting families. They are showing great hospitality day after day, taking care of the families, feeding them, transporting them to various locations.

We see a great good being done by those from afar who are supporting us by donating financially from Poland, the USA, New Zealand, Germany, France, and UK.

We thank the school and parish community from Koln, Germany for keeping our pantry for immigrants full. Thanks to you it is being filled with daily necessities. Greeting to our friends from Portugal and USA!

May the Lord bless us all, strengthen us in doing good, keep us faithful, fill us with peace and forgiveness.

March 11-13

  • We have received a transport from Koln, Germany, with medicine, food, hygiene means and all of it was transported to places in Ukraine

Here is the message which we received from Ukraine:

We have delivered your gifts. Medicine was taken to the main military hospital and to Feofaniya hospital in Kyiv. Food was given in the city of Vishogrod, near Kyiv, to people who live continually in the bomb shelters and have no access to food. On Monday we will get the next load of the shipment and it will be transported on Tuesday.

Thank you so much for your help. We are strong together.

  • With the leftover shipment, we have created Hallelu Jah Pantry where the Polish host families and Ukrainian guest families who are under our care can receive food and items needed for daily life

  • Our care for families received under our roofs (about 100 people) i s continuing. Caretakers for the host and guest families are meeting and exchanging info on a daily basis so our support for those who are stying their lives anew can be meaningful. The support includes psychological. Spiritual, legal, and material spheres and our goal is for the families to function independently as soon as possible

We are thankful to God and to you that together we can direct our help straight toward the needs. We are thankful that your spiritual and material; support is enabling us and you to join the stream of love and mercy.

All of that is possible with the cooperation with the Agalliasis Community and Society of Brother Albert and the city of Wroclaw institutions. As a non-profit, we stand alongside hundreds of other groups and thousands of volunteers in our country. We pray for all who stand in a place for caring for those who are running from the darkness of war. Without the power from on high, our strength is too weak, too small to continue, to not lose zeal. This is the time without which we can not just passs by without soaking God daily on personal prayer.
In Him is our strength.
The Lord is with us.

7-10 marca

We are starting a season of adaptation for Ukrainian families.

Both of the families, the one hosting and guests, have their own care-taler who is supposed to be a support in adapting to life in a new reality. Thank you very much to all who opened up their house and heart.

Shipments from France and Germany are arriving. Part of those went further today, to Przemysl city on the border, and then will be taken to Kyiv. The same transport will take medicine to the hospital in Kyiv.

The second part of food, cleaning supplies, hygiene items will be stored at eth Hallelu Jah’s Pantry. Each Sunday after Mass and on Thursday before our prayer meeting, ‘our’ Ukrainian families and their hosts can pick up needed supplies.

Thank you for opening your hearts and houses. Thank you for your financial generosity and your time sacrificed to help others. Thank you for never-ending fire of merciful love.

The Lord is with us. Through prayer, Eucharist, the Word of God, we are refreshed in Him. In Him, there is a source of renewing strength. We offer oeuvres to you in prayer, as well as all families from Ukraine and their family members left in the country. We pray for you also. We ask you to pray for us.

May God be praised and people find our ministry useful.

March 5-6

After short weekend break we are updating you about what has happened in the last two days:

  • During last week 80 people found shelters in our homes. Practically every day we receive new families and our HalleluJah and Agalliasis communities are starting caring for them. We are improving the whole process. The next step is to help in adaptation to a new situation for our guests.
  • We have created a network of persons which we call home-carers and their focus is to care for Ukrainian families with the whole complexity needed and unburden the hosts from doing everything needed. Our final goal is to hel Ukrainina famileiss become independent.
  • We are expecting more transports from Koln, Germany, bringing medicine, medical and first aid kits, and items for our new Ukrainian families Our relationship with Max from Ukraine will enable us to distribute well help inside of the country.
  • The flat which was renovated last week is being furnished this week; it will be a transitory space for people just arriving
  • Obertyn in Ukraine can expect medical kits and sleeping bags soon
  • We started cooperating with another Catholic Charismatic Community in Poland, Mocni w Duchu (Strong in the Spirit) from Lodz. We are creating together a list for hosting people, exchanging our experiences.

Caritas was looking for volunteers to unload trucks with shipments. One of them was Igor with his wife Sveta, who came from Zhytomyr in Ukraine. They were so moved by seeing what was happening around them that they wanted to help, having a sense of responsibility, and taking initiative. Maybe they will become an inspiration for others who will be able to engage in many places.

All stories of people who are with us create a picture which invokes in us strength to continue helping. The first zeal,  full of adrenaline, has passed. The time is coming when we will learn caring for the newly arriving families, while not giving up taking care for all whoo are intensely involved in caring  for others.

We are recognizing continually that this time is desired, it is a day of salvation aboout whiich St. Paul wrote: „but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;” 2 Cor 6: 4-7

Thank you for your presence, openness and support! We entrust all our work into your prayers. God is renewing His grace every morning, and  with that he renews our strength.

All praise and glory to Him.

Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.

March 4

Today we look at the whole first week of our engagement in actions helping Ukraine, in cooperation with the Agalliasis community. God writes scripts that none of us are able to predict yet listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice and obedient to his inspiration, we are undertaking steps that we recognize as the will of God for our Hallelu Jah community for such a time as this.

We want to be transparent to all of you who are supporting us in various ways – spiritually, financially, practically, sharing your time, home, knowledge, or experience. We are very thankful for your presence and continual readiness to offer help. That; 's why we are updating our reports daily, informing you about our activities, sharing where your donations are being directed. Together with Agalliasis, we focus on new challenges so our efforts can be directed toward the biggest needs.

What has happened on Friday, March 4th?

  • We were able to connect with a Ukrainian man, Max, who transported 160 medical kits, 87 chargers, and 7 boxes of wound dressings straight to Kyiv, from Warsaw. Altogether we have sent 500 medical kits and the next ones are getting ready to be sent.
     
  • We have received first aid items from Germany and England. Thank you so much for that.
  • We are opening homes to new Ukrainian families. Each family needs complex care. The whole crisis staff, through this new experience, is working on logistics in offering spiritual support, psychological, legal, material, and medical help.
  • We have bought sleeping bags, thermal clothing, and medical kits for the city of Obertyn, where our community led evangelization in 2018
  • We have initiated cooperation with The Society of St. Albert which will help us greatly in helping families here, in Wroclaw, Poland.

We are continually seeking people who are able to receive families under their roof. We are expecting new waves of refugees whose traumatic experience includes seeing the war up close in the last days. They will need a new start in a place where they can catch a breath and start thinking about building a new path for their lives.

Beloved, while the emotions of the first days are slowly subsiding, and the first shock is passing away, we are entering a phase of more organized and systemic help. Our ongoing cooperation with the government of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, as well as with the institutions, specialists in various fields, turns our work from a wildfire into a stable flame shining its light.
Those who serve with love are experiencing palpable strengthening. Personally, we are not omitting our prayer times, diving into the waters of life. We are sure that besides what is happening in the material and visible, great things are happening in the spiritual realm. This battle belongs to the Lord. And even when the enemy is approaching “with sword and spear and javelin” ( 1 Sam 17:45), we approach him “in the name of the Lord of hosts” (1 Sam 17:45) and we proclaim with David: Let all gathered know that the Lord does not save with the sword and javelin. Because this is the war of the Lord, He will give you up in our hands.

That’s why all our efforts we root in our God from whom the victory and salvation come. We encourage you to pray with us at 10 pm daily (Polish time), standing as intercessors and worshippers, praying at least short and powerful; prayers.

Thank you for all your help. This is not just a cordial phrase but a truth flowing from our hearts. Without you, none of this would be possible. We ask for continual support and THANK YOU!

March 3

Every day we receive information about concrete needs and people seeking help. Yesterday was no different.  The whole Thursday was soaked in working for those whom we support. Together with Agalliasis Community, we are receiving new families and we are preparing the next shipments. We take care of steps that follow prior actions, especially in the case of refugees who require our full care. Each family hosted by us received a caretaker who will accompany them in future challenges. That’s why we are building a coalition of institutions, lawyers, medical staff who all will help us to face all future circumstances. Yesterday we were able to:

  • Continue to take care of seven families which the members of our communities are hosting long-term.
  • We bought 86 chargers requested, and 100 thermal gloves requested from Ukraine.
  • We are assembling and preparing the next shipment of medical kits with medicine and bandage dressings to be transported soon over the border.
  • We have received shipment from Great Britain with first aid kits which will be sent to the battlefront.
  • A transport for Salesian Mission with sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and food have left for Ukraine.

What else can we say beyond: THANK YOU! It’s amazing to see how you assist us in such various ways and form so many places in the world. Thanks to your donations we can be engaged daily in bringing help to those who are today in the hearts of almost all nations and tongues.

This situation unites us, awakens our faith, enflames our love. How strong is today the experience of LIGHT shining in the darkness. Where the sinful power, pride, and war are rising, the Lord pours out His grace more abundantly.

You matter in the chain of all these actions. Your prayer, your time, your care, your generosity – through all of this the Spirit of the Lord changes the face of the earth. One more time, THANK YOU.

We bless all of you in the name of the Lord. We bless, and not curse, also those, who are causing this situation. We confess that the Lord I is our strength, he defends the oppressed, He is Almighty. We praise and glorify Him, forever.

March 2

  • Packages with medical kits filled with medicine and wound dressings were transported to Przemysl, a town on the border, from where they will be transported to Ukraine
  • Two families arrived safely to Wroclaw and were welcomed by our community
  • Another day of renovating an apartment for refugees; high schoolers are helping us!
  • We have purchased 50 sleeping bags and 50 sleeping mats for Salesian Mission in Ukraine
  • We have started cooperating with legal advisors who will assist us in all legal issues concerning Ukrainian immigrants, regarding asylums, work, health insurance etc.

March 1

  • thanks to your help we have supported the Dominican monastery by Kyiv with  their St. Martin de Porres which hosts immigrants https://www.facebook.com/Centr.Sviatogo.Martina/posts/504860967952477
  • we have purchased food for a Salesian Mission in Ukraine; they are helping people who had to stay inside the country
     
  • the next part of medical  kits are being assembled by our brothers and sisters in Warsaw and will be given to the front line fighters
  • a family which was picked up yesterday from the border at night has arrived at a safe house and can gain strength before the next challenges
  • the renovation of the apartment for 12 immigrants continued today
  • mother with small boy was housed at one family tonight

February 28

  • cleaning and wall painting of the apartment for Ukrainian immigrants at MiserArt non-profit location
  • another family was hosted in a house
  • A family with nine members was brought from the border
  • materials bought for 200 medical kits
  • cooperation with the Agaliasis community established
  • A purchase of  50 sleeping bags and 50 sleeping mats for the Salesian mission from Agaliasis resources

February 27

  • Database for hosting 140 immigrants running from the war
  • First familes from Ukraine were received and taken carre of
  • 15 boxes of medical kits with medicine and wound dressing
  • We have purchased and transported basic medicine for the soldiers
  • First van and car were dispatched to bring a family from the border
  • A donation Domincans located by Kyiv was sent; they are involved in fist hand help for immigrants and displaced children. Read more.

All of this is possible because of the support of the continually growing support of donors and persons who offer their time and skills to take care of our  brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

We would like to express our huge gratitude for loving your neighbor. We can see with our own eyes how this love is becoming palpable and practical. Without your help we would not be able to respond to all needs being sent to us from various places asking for specific help.

 

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