In the one month since the Ukrainian refugee crisis began to unfold, Wesleyans have given just over $154,000 to the Wesleyan Emergency Relief Fund (WERF).
Thank you for partnering with local Wesleyan leaders and Global Partners workers in Eastern Europe through your prayers and monetary gifts. While the need can feel overwhelming, workers share it is your prayers, backing and support that enable and embolden their response to those around them. Every act of generosity helps to mobilize these workers to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others amid their trauma and pain.
The urgent, immediate needs of the region in and around Ukraine are great. Across Poland and the Czech Republic, WERF funds are providing transportation, housing and supplies for refugees. Relief and deliveries to the border are part of your gifts in action.
Workers collectively believe the need for long-term solutions must also be addressed. Resettlement assistance such as semi-permanent housing and furnishings are a few of the pathways being explored to provide sustainability for the days ahead.
In response to this need, Global Partners has set the next goal for WERF funds at $250,000. Your gift, big and small, makes an immediate and sustained difference for the refugees being served.
Workers regularly witness the effects of this conflict on the Ukrainian children. Some children and their parents must separate, leaving the children to travel alone across the border. Some are forced to wait hours in train stations. Others are sent to school in their country of refuge, interacting with strangers in a foreign place and a language unknown to them.
Last week at a train station in Krakow, a city in Poland less than 200 miles from the Ukraine border, God drew a Wesleyan pastor’s eyes to a little boy wandering around alone. As he knelt to see if he could help, other children started to gather around, longing for connection and attention. Many families are gathered at the train station waiting; however, the fathers are not with them. This pastor was overwhelmed by their desire to have the care of a father figure, even if just for a moment.
Please join the workers as they pray for the children of this war and their need for safety, stability, acclimation, connection, friendship and coping with their varied losses. Ask God to lead and give wisdom to the workers serving these families. Pray that the light and love of Jesus will flow through the churches offering hospitality and activities to refugee families.
Continue to pray for Ukrainian refugees and Eastern European Wesleyan leaders serving and caring for people across the region.
Would you prayerfully consider what gift you can give to bring relief and hope to Ukraine? Checks should be made payable to The Wesleyan Church with a note in the memo line for WERF Ukrainian Refugee Relief. Gifts should be mailed to The Wesleyan Church Corporation, c/o General Treasurer’s Office, 13300 Olio Road, Suite 100, Fishers, IN 46037.
Rev. Angela Alvarado is the assistant editor of Communication and Administration of The Wesleyan Church and a graduate of Wesley Seminary, Marion, Indiana.
