Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
1. Our container of humanitarian aid did not arrive in the Polish port as originally scheduled this past Monday. The shipping company’s revised date for arrival is April 30th. However, there is good news: Because Polish farmer protests had blockaded truck traffic into and out of Ukraine, BIEM was compelled to transport our previous container into Ukraine via railroad. (Polish farmers were protesting the import of Ukrainian agricultural products entering Poland.) But recently, those blockades have been lifting, thus allowing truck traffic to resume. Although some news outlets predict there may still be intermittent protests in the future, for now our Ukrainian brethren rejoice at this news, because trucking our containers over highways is quicker and simpler than making railroad arrangements.
2. On Saturday, April 20, BIEM received a truckload of donated items from Faith Baptist Church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The bulk of this cargo consisted of gently used clothing and footwear, walkers, and crutches—all items that are in great demand during this time of war in Ukraine. Currently, these boxes and bags of clothing are in our warehouse, where volunteers will sort and pack them tightly for shipment on our next container of war relief. It’s always difficult to answer the question, “When are you sending your next container?” because shipments depend on how quickly we receive enough donations to fill one. However, we can say that a truckload such as this one certainly shortens the amount of time needed to make a full load!
3. Ever since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, part of BIEM’s war relief has gone to aid elderly refugees. Many of these people lived alone on a tiny, monthly pension and didn’t have family to help them. Here, BIEM’s Pavel Usach shares one of the ways that his church actively takes elderly believers under its wing in Hlyns’k, Ukraine, using the aid that you friends provide through BIEM:
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/aidingelderly
4. On April 20, BIEM posted a video titled “Papa Survived the Bombing. Mama Didn’t.” That video was a brief account from Ukrainian believer Sergei Gaidarzhi, who survived the Russian bombing of his apartment building in March that killed his young wife Anna and 4-month-old son. Since that bombing, Brother Sergei was invited to the U.S., where he met and shared his tragic experiences with House Speaker Mike Johnson and others. In fact, many people credit Sergei’s personal testimony for swaying some who had previously opposed aid for Ukraine to change their mind. If you haven’t yet seen that video, it’s available for viewing here:
https://vimeo.com/user37287229/papasurvived
In Christ,
Sam Slobodian
President, BIEM