HOW THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE IMPACTS FOI
Dear Friend,
I wanted to write to you to share how significantly the Russian invasion of Ukraine impacts The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (FOI) and what you can do to help.
FOI WORKERS FORCED FROM HOMES
First and foremost, please be in prayer for every life upended by this invasion, including the 44 million citizens of Ukraine. Specifically, several of FOI’s workers in Ukraine have been forced from their homes. One of our FOI field representatives, who resides in Warsaw, Poland, has family that lives near the Russian border in Donetsk, Ukraine—a city that suffered considerable unrest during the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014. To avoid danger, Marina and her family may be forced to flee to western Ukraine. Should Russia invade the entire country, Tanya, our field worker in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, may be in harm's way.
PROVIDING COMFORT TO THE NATION’S DESTITUTE
Second, the Russian invasion may close western Ukraine’s border with Poland. If this happens, our FOI workers in Poland will be unable to enter Ukraine to continue their ministry of providing comfort to the nation’s destitute Jewish people. They also may not be able to run our four summer children’s camps currently planned. The children’s camps depend largely on Polish worker support.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Third, the state of Israel is preparing to receive 75,000 Ukrainian immigrants. As a result, with so many making aliyah (immigrating to Israel) in such a short time, two of FOI’s Israel Relief Fund cash reserves may need to be used: (1) the Aliyah Return Fund and (2) the Eastern European Relief Fund, which already has been used to help a few Ukrainian Jewish people move to Israel. The sheer number of expected immigrants may greatly deplete these funds, and our workers will need these reserves to minister to the many new people they will encounter in this time of crisis.
GOD’S GOOD HAND CONTINUES TO PROVIDE
Most people in Ukraine live in poverty. They have little access to health insurance, transportation, or other essential services. FOI provides more than $25,000 each year for food for the elderly and lower-income Ukrainian families. We helped many Jewish people in Eastern Ukraine make aliyah to Israel in 2021. In hindsight, we see how God’s good hand has been preparing and providing for His people there. But, with an estimated 300,000 Jewish people living in Ukraine, the need is only just beginning.
If the Lord has laid it on your heart to aid people in Ukraine through FOI's Eastern European Relief Fund, you will be actively helping them relocate and obtain shelter, food, clothes, toiletries, transportation, medicine, and spiritual guidance. Our field workers are there, helping as many as they can, and they need your help now!
Your financial support today will go directly toward urgent, life-saving work in Ukraine.
Praying with you,
Dr. Jim Showers, DMin
Executive Director/President
Eastern European Relief
Provide Relief for Those Impacted in Ukraine Today
