With a massive influx of people fleeing from the eastern regions to the west of the country, our friends at Hungry For Life International and their partners are working to care for those fleeing the war. They are connected with a network of churches serving internally displaced people in the Mukacheve area near the border with Hungary. They are providing shelter for refugees in their area and outside funds will help with food, mattresses and other essentials. As the conflict continues, they are working to provide and facilitate longer-term options for housing and caring for refugees.

Hungry For Life has also begun warehousing and distributing aid throughout the country through a vast network of local partners. They have been able to source food locally when available as well as receive material aid shipments from neighboring EU countries. With a fleet of vehicles and volunteer drivers, they have prioritized the delivering of necessary aid to people in the war zone areas to the east who are in greatest need.

The first 3 phases of Hungry For Life’s response have been completed with over half a million people being helped using $2 million dollars in donations received. This represents 650 tons of food and supplies being delivered across the country through over 500 deliveries from their two warehouses.

Phase 4 – Ongoing
Expected Cost – $2 – $4,000,000
Number of people helped – 1,657,000+

Phase 4 of Hungry For Life’s response includes the following:

• More warehousing – They have arranged access to nine additional distribution centers located closer to active conflict zones which will allow them to get food to people faster.
• More food supplies – Hungry For Life is sourcing food directly from local farmers and is set up to receive food and supplies being delivered from outside Ukraine. They will continue working to get food to those with the most need.
• Refugee support – They are working on longer-term housing solutions for the many displaced people in the west of the country. This includes renovating different locations to open up more space for the internally displaced.
• Identifying local needs – Through the extensive network Hungry For Life has developed throughout the country, they are able to hear directly from pastors and local leaders who can identify specific needs to their region or community and respond in kind to meet those specific needs.

Through our partnership with Hungry For Life International, there is an opportunity to directly contribute to this work and help many thousands of people across Ukraine.

100% of all donations received will go directly towards efforts by Hungry for Life’s staff and international partners to provide secure shelter, daily food, beds, and other necessities as they arise. To donate, click the Donate button below and select “Ukraine Relief”.

The only thing hindering their ability to provide more resources is the funds required to purchase additional food and aid. Please consider how you can contribute and above all, please continue to pray for those in Ukraine as they weather increasing hardship.

To learn more about Hungry For Life’s ongoing work in Ukraine, visit hungryforlife.org/emergency-relief/ukraine-emergency-relief

So far, $2 million dollars have been donated towards emergency relief efforts in Ukraine. This represents over 650 tons of food and supplies that have been distributed across the country and over 500,000 people that have been helped.

Chad and Mary were able to join a group making an aid distribution run to the recently liberated areas of Irpin and Bucha. They attempted to reach Chernobyl but were unable because the bridges to the area had been destroyed. As an organization, they have been able to make over 450 aid distributions throughout Ukraine including into areas of major conflict.

Approximately 420 vehicles have been sent out from Hungry For Life’s warehouses with food and aid across the country. Because of the daily increase in need, they have had to make the decision to only send food to those in the most critical situations. This includes communities recently liberated from under Russian occupation such as Irpin, Bucha, and Chernihiv. They are also continuing to send food and aid to communities that are still located within major conflict zones.

Chad & Mary and their team were able to send five 21-ton trucks to the two conflict zones Sumy and Zaporozhye. Alongside this, an additional 100 tons of food was distributed by 20 trucks and 180 sprinter vans to other parts of the country.

Two trucks containing 42 tons of aid were sent to Sumy along the Russian border and another truck was sent to Zaparozhye where the nuclear power plant was taken over by the Russians.

Two additional homes are being prepared for use to house more refugees. Work needs to be done to connect the water supplies to the homes, install fridges, and finish the kitchen areas.

They are continuing to receive aid shipments from other European countries with two trucks from the Netherlands expected to arrive on the 18th.

Hungry For Life has recruited a team of local Ukrainians to provide infrastructure and logistics for sending and receiving aide throughout the country. They have begun to receive small shipments from Holland and working to provide the infrastructure necessary to receive additional aide from the EU.

Over the course of 5 days, they were able to provide 1 weeks worth of food for 40,000 people.

The next phase includes local warehousing in western Ukraine as a distribution center for both refugees as well as affected people in the war zone areas in the east. Hungry For Life staff members Chad and Mary continue to source and purchase food locally while it is still available, as well as working with various partners in neighboring EU countries to begin receiving material aid shipments into the country. They also plan to continue to provide food and basic essentials to areas further east where they have access to communities that are rapidly running out of food and supplies.