June 1st, 2022

Fastiv, 1.06.2022

Praise Jesus Christ,

Today was marked by important events and joyful meetings. June 1 – Children’s Day in war-torn Ukraine – a substitute for normality. The first major event of the day was the opening of a modular container town in the city of Borodianka. They were visited by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, where he met with the Ukrainian Minister, Mr. Oleksiej Czernyszow. This is a special day for new residents of the town, where 350 people will be able to live. This is our joint work Dear Friends. Thank you for all the dishes, especially the blankets from Soup on Monciak. We perceive it as a metaphorical “treatment of Borodianka’s wounds”, in which more than 500 houses, 24 apartment blocks and two schools were destroyed during the occupation. All administrative buildings were severely damaged.
At the same time, in our Center in Fastiv, we organized a Children’s Day for our new city residents, i.e. people displaced from the areas under occupation. Almost 300 children took part in many competitions and games, and each of them received small gifts. The culmination of the meeting was the presentation of the main prizes of our lottery by the wife of the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine, Mrs. Monika Kapa-Cichocka, which were funded by the First Lady of the Republic of Poland, Mrs. Agata Kornhauser-Duda.

A clear sign of unity and hope is the fact that the main prizes were awarded to children from Odessa, Mariupol and Irpien.

For over three months of the war we were constantly working on the evacuation of our countrymen to Poland with Paweł Stępień from PZU Ukraine. Today was the day when we could hug, stay together, sit down at the table and talk in peace.

Yesterday Mrs. Marzena from the Charytatywni Freta Group and the Charytatywni Foundation came back to us, with a truck filled with gifts. She and sister Augustyna made the journey alone from Poland in a very large car.

We would like to thank our Friends from Orla Gwardia for 500 kg of sweets for children who have just arrived today. Thank you for the donations. Parish of St. Mikołaj Bielsk Podlaski and Janusz Korczak’s Primary School No. 3 in Zielonka.

Of course, all this our joint celebration could not take place without the dedicated work and commitment of our volunteers and their love for children.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.
Father Michał OP