The Crisis in Ukraine
Our hearts are breaking at the scenes of Ukrainians under attack from Russian forces. Many of us have friends living and working with the local church in Ukraine. Others of us have visited the country. Ambridge PA, where ARDF’s office is located, is home to several Ukrainian churches and a large Ukrainian population. They are our neighbors here in the US and our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
As the crisis intensifies, more and more Ukrainians will be displaced. Others will be without basic necessities, like water, shelter, and food. ARDF has mounted a campaign to raise funds to help. You can learn more about our partners, their work, and where donations will be directed in the days to come. Currently, we have a list of over a dozen potential partners, proof that people of faith are actively carrying out the mission of Christ to care for the vulnerable.
ARDF has been involved in disaster relief since 2007. Initially, the relief efforts we funded were for natural disasters. Your donations funded church activities to help those who lost their homes, livelihood, or loved ones. However, over the years, the scope of our “disaster” relief has widened. With your help, we’ve supported partners helping Iraqi, Syrian, and Afghan refugees as well as asylum seekers at the southern border. We’ve supported the local church in times of civil unrest, in Egypt and Myanmar.
No matter the type of disaster, ARDF connects donations from North Americans to those on the ground who are close to the vulnerable. Most of the time, although not exclusively, these people are from the local community. When the news cameras and the larger aid agencies leave, they stay behind to walk with the marginalized. Our partners build on the relationships formed during the crisis. When we partner with a nonprofit that is not local, we prioritize partners who focus on local capacity so that when the nonprofit leaves, the community is able to carry on efforts, assuring long term care for those affected. While the world might move on, anyone who has experienced a disaster knows that it takes years, even decades, to recover from a single event.
Back to Ukraine, we will support a mix of partners serving both those in Ukraine as well as refugees fleeing the country. These partnerships will extend over time and so much will depend on the events of the next few weeks and months.
Beyond giving to these efforts, prayer is vital. Please join us in praying this prayer, adapted by our friends at the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others:
A Prayer for Ukraine
Eternal God, in whose most perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength is known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace as children of one Father. Guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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