Dear Friends
Imagine that you had to leave your home with nothing more than the clothes on your back and a small walk-on suitcase. Imagine that you are a woman with two small children. You are fleeing your country not knowing whether you will ever return home or see your spouse again. You are now classed as an internally displaced person or a refugee. In just a few weeks, your life and the lives of your children will never be the same again. And imagine, you are disabled, or extremely vulnerable or aged, the challenges are heightened.
Please keep the people of Ukraine in your prayers.
FUNDRAISING
As of Tuesday 8 March, we have raised over £70,000 which includes £20,000 from matched funding from several churches. Thank you so much for these monies. Today, we are sending through £25,000 to ADRA-Ukraine to assist with the ongoing work there. You can continue to donate through our website bit.ly/ADRAUkraineAppeal or by telephoning our office, on the number below, or by sending in a cheque with the reference 'Ukraine Appeal'. Please note that due to limited staff, we may not always be able to take your phone calls, so please bear with us.
PRACTICAL SUPPORT
UK
On Wednesday, our I AM Urban initiative (Domestic Programme) held a weekly meeting with key Community Services personnel to continue discussions on how we can have a collaborative approach to supporting displaced people. The team are looking at prepositioning our local community grassroots hubs to support refugees when they arrive in this country.
Overseas
The ADRA Network Emergency Response Team is on the ground with surge capacity coordinating the response from Romania and Poland. In addition, we are in talks with a medical supply company to deliver much-needed items to these two countries. Refugees continue crossing the border to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova. Refugees are crossing the border in cars, by trains and by foot. Some are waiting in line for up to 60 hours in harsh winter conditions.
The situation is desperate right now and will continue like this for some time. Maybe, you may want to consider not only giving a one-off donation, but you may want to set up a regular monthly direct debit to support our work with the world's most vulnerable people. You can setup a direct debit online here: adra.org.uk/donate/ or make a single donation.
Once again, thank you for your continued support of ADRA-UK as we support those affected by the Ukrainian crisis.
Pastor Bert Smit
CEO – ADRA-UK
ADRA-UK