July 6-13, 2024

Fastiv, 6.07-13.07.2024

Praised be Jesus Christ!

We have had a busy week, which we spent almost whole in Kherson with our volunteer. The most important of it was helping the residents of the village Antonivka, for whom our social kitchen delivers lunches and bread every day, given the fact that the gas supply and electricity grid are damaged in the village. The residents have a very difficult situation. We are grateful to everyone who joined the collection for fire extinguishers, thanks to your generosity, we collected the necessary amount in a very short time and even more than we asked you. The collection is closed, we thank everyone even for the smallest donation and those who hurried and gave one, five, 15 and 20 fire extinguishers with one donation, may the Lord protect you. In the near future, we will purchase them and report to you on social networks.

Our new humanitarian initiative, which we have been preparing for a long time, to support the less mobile and needy residents of the front-line city of Kherson, is the opening of a social laundry. These days, together with volunteers from Fastiv and Kherson, with our own efforts, we repaired and equipped a social laundry with a waiting and rest room. Ten modern washing machines and 10 dryers have already been installed. This was made possible thanks to the Polish development cooperation program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Kyiv / Ambasada RP w Kijowie, we thank the diplomatic corps, Mrs. Aleksandra Kochanowicz, for helping with the drafting and submission of the project.

Thank you, our Volunteers, who sacrificed your time to repair and adapt the premises to the needs of the social laundry! Thank you, Charytatywni Freta, who organized charity fairs in Warsaw to support this project! Thank you, our Friends and Partners Zupa na Monciaku, who helped us with detergents and laundry means.

For us, this project is an even closer friendship with people who are constantly suffering from war and shelling and who need support. The restoration of inner balance through the satisfaction of the natural basic needs is a very important factor in resilience during the trials experienced in wartime.

These days I received a touching letter from Mr. Frans van der Heijdt and his wife Toke from Zwolle, the Netherlands, who did not accept gifts for their “golden wedding”, but collected help for our children. We sincerely thank Mr. Franz and Mrs. Toke for your support and care for the children and our humanitarian missions. We thank Mr. Peter, who makes so much effort to write and talk about Ukraine in the most difficult time for us.

We thank Fundacja Charytatywni, volunteer Mr. Pavlo Bandazhevsky, who, despite the heat and distance, brought us humanitarian aid from the Xenia Charitable Foundation. Thank you to the director of the fund, Ms. Agnieszka Tombinska, for purchasing much-needed items for our St. Martin Center.

We return in this heat from Kherson tired, but grateful to God and the people who strengthen our motivation and support us. We do not stop to be close to those who are weaker.

With prayer in your intentions and for a just peace,

Fr. Mykhailo Romaniv OP