Проект опалення
У листопаді 2024 року ми розпочали «програму опалення» для найбідніших наших людей, яким, як ми знаємо, не вистачає грошей, щоб оплатити рахунки за опалення цієї зими, і ми будемо оплачувати їх витрати за опалення з середини листопада до середини березня 2025 р. Розглянувши ситуацію кожної людини, ми також забезпечуємо їх матрацами з електричним підігрівом, електричними обігрівачами, дровами для систем опалення, акумуляторними лампами (щоб вони мали світло, коли електрику вимикають,іноді по18 годин на добу) та ковдрами. Ми допомагаємо пережити зиму понад 70 людям.
Щомісяця ми збираємо їхні рахунки за опалення, ходимо в газову контору й оплачуємо їх. У 2026 році ми розширили програму до квітня через довгу та сувору зиму.
Для людей у селах ми закупили стільки дров, щоб їх вистачило на зиму.
Микола хворий на ДЦП та синдром Дауна і живе сам у маленькому будинку після смерті матері. Кожного місяця ми даємо йому їжу, і всю зиму ми платили йому за опалення. Він дуже вдячний за тепло взимку.
Лист подяки від Надії Сердюкової:
"Наші дорогі друзі. Велике спасибі за допомогу, яку ви надаєте у святкові та звичайні дні. Це велика-велика підтримка для нас. Велике спасибі за вашу турботу. Це дуже нам допомагає. Без вашої допомоги ми б померли. Це правда. Велика подяка вам і бажаю вам міцного здоров'я, успіхів і продовжуйте робити свою роботу.
Одна жінка в одному з сіл ледве не впала в істерику, коли побачила всі дрова і що вони такі гарні. Вона просто повторювала: «Я не розумію, чому ви це робите». Мати привілей благословляти людей тим,що нам дав Бог, — це така честь!
Feeding Program
When people come to us requesting a mobility, we deliver them to their homes and spend time with them this gaining an understanding of their living conditions and if they have family members who are able to help them. A relationship with them is begun, and because we are in their homes, we truly understand their needs.
Because we saw many people living in really bad conditions and realized that there was no one to help them, God laid it on our hearts to begin a feeding program in 2016. What started with approximately 40 people has grown to over 100 people we provide food for on a monthly basis. The food we give provides for a month’s worth of necessary staples. For many it is literally the difference between having to choose to buy their medicine or buy food.
Following is a story of just one person who receives our help:
Our Luba Gumenuk visited one of our people, Ephrosynis Klymenka. When Luba got there, Ephrosynis asked her, ‘Who sent you?”, and then told Luba that she had been planning to kill herself that day because of the burden of all the problems she had. She lost her disability retirement even though her sick leg is not healed. She is unable to pay her electricity bill, and her son was wounded in 2015 when Russia invaded the East. She is alone and no one cares for her.
It is God alone who directs us to such people. That day she got food, was listened to and cared for, and they prayed together for all her problems. Today life has a different meaning for her, food is delivered every month, and Luba continues to visit her regularly.
Each visit has a sad story, but we have the big privilege of telling people about the infinite love of Christ, and how He cares about each one of us. And especially that He won’t leave us if we invite Him to live in our hearts.
Christmas
We began our Christmas Program way back in 2000, taking the Ukrainian version of Santa Claus, Father Frost and his granddaughter into people’s homes. And every year since then we go to the new people for that year, somewhere between 200-300 people.
Everyone looks forward to it, but it is a LOT of work, as we go to each person’s home with a small gift, sing a Ukrainian Christmas song, and ask them to recite a poem. Everyone is so touched by this program. It is fun to watch the people’s faces when they see us in the van. Now we don’t say Father Frost anymore because that was a secular Russian tradition.
It is especially fun to see the children’s faces when Santa Claus gets out of the van! Lots of pointing and gesturing, and many of them run to him. So Santa Claus always carries some small candies and gifts for the kids!
Easter
In Ukraine, we have a special tradition. Everyone makes or buys one or more loaves of Easter Bread. For those with special needs, it is not something they can do themselves because of their disability, and besides they can’t afford to buy it.
So every Easter we go to the families we feed and take them their food package with some special items added (such as canned meat and fresh cheese, etc.). But we also make each of them Easter bread too. The tradition here is to say (usually 3 times), Kristos Voskres, (He is risen), and the other person responds, “Vayistino Voskres” (He is risen indeed).
It is amazing how these small gestures bring such joy to them. I think the main thing for them is that someone remembers them!
Annual Picnic
In 1999, we held our first picnic for people with special needs. Twenty five of them, along with their caregivers a mission team, and my staff came. For many of them, it was the first time out of their apartments since they became disabled (for many more than 5 years). In our city of Bila Tserkva, it was the first time people had seen people with special needs out in public! You see, at that time people with special needs were hidden away at home or in orphanages. I was actually told by a Ukrainian that there were no such people in Ukraine.
I had planned for our picnic to last 2 hours. We would feed them a hot meal, I would speak for a few minutes, and then we would get them safely home. But something wonderful started to happen as, for many of them, they discovered that they were not the only ones with special needs. They began talking together and exchanging phone numbers, and something new and wonderful began on that day!
At the end of 6 hours I had to tell them, “sorry, but we need to get you home before it gets dark.” And so this became an annual event in Bila Tserkva, and eventually grew to over 400 people, with volunteers from 5 or 6 churches and a mission team from Impact, helping us in picking up people, serving the the hot meals, providing entertainment, and taking them home.
Then came COVID, and for the first time since 1999, we couldn’t hold the picnic. And as COVID was finally becoming less and less an issue, the war began. We were no longer permitted to gather large groups together.
Almost 3 years ago we decided to hold a smaller picnic for our “kids” with special needs and their moms. We searched for a more remote location, and found one partly hidden by trees, near to a lake, with about 75 people in attendance.
Last year we also held a smaller picnic for the local rehabilitation center for soldiers with extreme PTSD.
We continue to dream of a day when we can once again hold our picnic in the Park, with hundreds in attendance! Until then we will host the smaller picnic.
Sponsor a Family
Throughout the years we saw many single mom’s struggling to take care of their kids with special needs. In most cases the mom cannot work because her child needs full time care. They get a pension from the government, but it not even close to enough to be able to live on. This is especially true of families who have children with childhood on-set diabetes. The cost of testing strips alone is too much for them.
So, in 2005 we started a Sponsor-A-Family Program where a family in the US sends a small monthly donation to a specific family, even as little as $25 to $50 a month is a big help, and sometimes makes the difference between being able to buy your child’s medicine or food. No mother should ever have to make that kind of choice!
If you are interested in participating in the program, please contact Kim Kulp at: kimallens514@att.net
