April 5-12, 2025

Praised be Jesus Christ!

We have had a busy week, a week in which we were on a humanitarian mission in front-line Kherson. We visited our social kitchen, bakery and laundry. We were also able to deliver aid to our military, our defenders, in particular to the border guards. Each humanitarian trip is also an opportunity to be close to those who need it most now, because both the city and its population are suffering greatly from enemy shelling. Supporting the “Southern Outpost” of our country is very important, although each such trip is difficult both physically and morally. I am convinced that the most important needs can only be seen when looking “with the eyes of the heart”. We care about people with limited mobility and the elderly, we continue a joint project with the NGO Strong Because Free, which aims to evacuate and provide free “social taxi” services for those in need. We are often asked to come in the most difficult moments and dangerous places where an ambulance cannot go. Thank you to the volunteers who often risk their lives to save lives of others.

Today is a great day for us, because we are opening the first social laundry in Fastiv. This is something that was missing in the range of social services that we provide to the city. Our social canteen is open, we distribute bread for free three times a week and provide the opportunity to get clothes. Every week, more than 1,000 Fastiv residents receive in-kind assistance in the form of delicious, warm lunches, about 1,200 loaves of delicious bread, baked for residents by our bakers at the San Angelo cafe. And now, in addition, there will be a social laundry, which will become part of our social program.

Today, Mr. Ettore Fusaro, an expert from the European office of Caritas Italiana, and Ms. Giulia, a journalist from Familia Christiana from Milan, who supports us and takes care of us, came to the consecration. We would like to thank our Friends and Partners Charitables Freta, who joined the franchising of this project, raised funds for the construction of this social facility, and also helped in the arrangement and purchase of washing machines and dryers. Thank you to the Dominican friars from the Freta Priory in Warsaw and to all the people who join the charity fairs and initiatives in support of our social projects in Fastiv. Thank you to Mr. Pavlo Bandazhevskyi for the help he brought this week. Thank you also to the Ksenia Association and its director Ms. Agnieszka Tombińska and to the Red Cross, who always remember and take care of us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you also to Father Luca Bovio, who has helped us many times and continues to help. He also provided humanitarian aid and visited us this week.

It is also important for us that today we signed a cooperation agreement with the Kozak garment factory, represented by Director Oleksandr Olegovich Panasyuk, to support our social canteen on an ongoing basis. It is also worth mentioning that Univest Marketing represented by Director Mr. Volodymyr Kudryashov provides disposable paper tableware on an ongoing basis. This is a very important component of quality services. We are very grateful for this significant support, as it saves money and is a very significant support for this project, which helps strengthen the resilience of our residents during the war.

We have the Holy week ahead of us, or the one of the Passion, and we especially pray and remember for all our defenders and for all those who now need this prayer. We have thousands of appeals, from civilians and from the military… with a request for Easter gifts. Probably, we will work intensively on this this week. Thank you for being with us, thank you for your help. Thank you for reading our report to the end.

Thank you for the repost and donation.

With prayers

Fr. Mykhailo Romaniv OP