Bringing Hope in a Desperate Ukraine

In recent weeks we handed out food parcels mainly in the East and South East of Ukraine, with an urgent appeal: “Make sure you have the proper documents, you are not obliged to do so, but in case of an emergency: better safe than sorry…”

Because of the increase of missile and drone attacks people realize that these are not empty words. Odessa is recently suffering from severe attacks. Almost daily the city is hit by missiles and drones. Last Friday two missiles exploded in quick succession in the same residential area, causing twenty casualties (including emergency responders and a doctor) and over eighty people injured. At that moment we were unloading another shipment of food parcels in the synagogue.

“Kryvyi Rih, was shocked last week by severe missile attacks on three major apartment buildings”

Also Kryvyi Rih, an elongated industrial city, was shocked last week by severe missile attacks on three major apartment buildings. When the attack took place, we were there too, just after a meeting with the rabbi. We heard one explosion after another in the neighbourhood and were frozen with terror. Later we saw the vast destruction and the despair on people’s faces. It’s no coincidence that this city is attacked regularly. President Zelensky was born and raised here. When he was 14 years of age, he succeeded in going to Israel to take part in an aliyah study program, but his father refused to let him go. It is a game of Russian roulette: you never know where and when the missiles and drones will attack, even though you are warned by the air-raid alarm.

Please, have a look at the pictures below. Click on a photograph to enlarge and use the arrows for the next/previous one. The text continues below the photo slider.

We decided to stay in Kryvyi Rih for a couple of days, to personally hand out 400 food parcels and talk to the people. During our conversations I heard about Tanya’s tragedy, who lost her apartment during a missile attack while she was teaching mathematics to a young girl. The screams of the severely injured sounded as if they were having a nightmare. She couldn’t return to her apartment and is now living with her son, daughter-in-law and two little grandchildren in a tiny apartment. Tanya felt the need to share her experiences in the synagogue. Fortunately all of her documents were still intact. Eduard, also known as Leib, is a Hebrew Bible teacher and has talked a lot about the Psalms of King David during the wars in Ukraine and Israel, often in his prayers.

“Our goal is not only to bring comfort, but also practical help”

Our goal as Christians for Israel Ukraine is not only to bring comfort, but also practical help, like supporting soup kitchens, helping with making aliyah, and packing and handing out food parcels. People sometimes line up hours in advance, afraid  that there will not be enough, especially elderly who have endured the Soviet Union.

Please, have a look at the video below.

Still need for over 10,000 food parcels
In Odessa alone, the synagogue has a list of 2,386 Jewish elderly who qualify for one or more food parcels. In groups of fifty people or more the food parcels are collected and everyone receives practical information as well, in case people want to visit the Israeli consul! We hope to be able to distribute food parcels soon towards cities near the war zone, while it is still possible. Think of Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Nikolayev, Chernihiv and then back to Kharkov, Odessa… In the coming months over 10,000 food parcels will be needed. Will you help while it is still possible? One food parcel costs 15 euros | US $ 15. Any amount is welcome!

Support in €

Support in US $

1 food parcel costs 15 euros / 15 US $ and consists of:
1 kg of sugar
1 kg of rice
1 kg of grits
2 kg of pasta
1 liter of oil
1 kg of flour
500 gr of oatmeal
1 box of tea
250 ml of condensed milk
1 can of fish
1 box of cookies
1 bar of chocolate
200 gr of coffee
1 can of peas
1 can of corn