Time doesn’t always heal all wounds. Not if you’re living on the frontlines of war, like Nadia in Ukraine. Three plus years on, the suffering and needs of our neighbors continues, and it is immense.
Your love is as critical as ever.
It wasn’t always this way.
Nadia is the embodiment of a provider. She’s up with the sun to work her family’s land, growing hard crops to nourish their bodies and sell the leftover produce at market to earn a little money.
Her heart is tied to the rich soil that gives so much to her family. Her humble but warm farmhouse is filled with the bounty of the land, love and laughter. They have all they need.
And then the war began.
The sky she marveled at each morning, wondering how it would bless her farm — with warm sunshine or quenching rain — was now filled with nothing but smoke and fire.
She watched in horror as families that she had lived near for years fled the country they adored for safety. But she could not leave. She had nowhere to go.
“The village became a front line, and almost everyone left at the occupation. I was one of only four households who remained.”
Years’ worth of memories flashed before her eyes as she saw the farm where she taught her children and grandchildren how to tend the soil, plant seeds and harvest crops became a front line of war and carnage.
Her village crumbled under the terror that war brings. Roads were blocked. Tanks were everywhere. Supply chains were nonexistent, and fertilizer, fuel and even seeds were impossible to get.
Nadia’s farming tools littered the land — untouched for the first time in her life.
When the war reached Nadia’s village, her home and farm suffered severe damage.
Fall meant harvest season...but no longer
Fall used to be Nadia’s favorite time of year. This was harvest season! A farmer’s reward for months of backbreaking work in the summer heat. It was a ritual of survival for the winter months.
Potatoes would be stacked with care in containers in the root cellar, and onions hung from the ceiling.
Her grandchildren would watch in awe as she boiled jars of the beautiful vegetables she grew—like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers—and they all looked forward to hearing the satisfying “pop” that let them know the jar had cooled and was ready for storage.
With the temperature chilly enough to keep food safe through the long, cold, and snowy Ukraine winter, Nadia’s cellar would smell of the earth, with hints of onion and garlic.
After completing her tasks, she’d curl up with a warm beverage and sit by the fire with the comfort of knowing her farm had, once again, made her family proud.
She was content. She had prepared. She had provided.
But not this fall. Now, she huddles with the four other families who couldn’t flee, terrified of what winter will bring.
There is no food. No canned vegetables from the summer before. Her cozy farmhouse is destroyed...along with her hopes and dreams.
Hope is lost. And it’s getting colder by the day.
It’s been three years since Russia invaded Ukraine. But, for our neighbors like Nadia, the needs are still great, and they are still suffering the traumatic effects of war, like hunger and homelessness.
Will you help our neighbors in desperate need of your love?
You can show your neighbors still fighting for their lives in Ukraine that they have a friend who is thinking about them, praying for them and loves them enough to send help.
Rush your lifesaving aid to children and women, like Nadia, who feel like they have nowhere left to turn.
Will you be the hope they need?
Thank you for your faithful service to families in need around the world.
Until your love reaches
every neighbor.
