Thank you to you for your generous support to the Ukraine Crisis Appeal. Already you have given more than $120,000 and much needed donations are arriving each day.

CWS is supporting the ACT Alliance Appeal which is reaching many people with vital supplies, cash vouchers, warm meals and shelter, legal advice and psychosocial support. ACT member are working with local churches in Ukraine and 7 neighbouring countries. In Krakow, Poland for example, the Lutheran Church of St Martin is running a hostel for women and children.

In the east of Ukraine ACT Alliance is assisting families who have managed to escape the siege of Mariupol. ACT member Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) is providing food and other assistance to the families of bus drivers. The escaping families arrive with little and the bus driver’s families are sharing what they can with them. The majority stay a short time, wanting to get as far away from the war as possible. If they stay longer, they are given clothes, food and psychosocial support from local services. In Zaporishzhia, HIA has provided shelter for 65,466 people already and is distributing food packages and hygiene kits. Much of the support has come from locals, but now more is coming from outside.

Please keep Ukraine in your prayers, especially the people who are meeting the families who have fled fighting and siege. Pray for those providing assistance and for those seeking to bring about peace in Ukraine, Russia and beyond.

Donations can be made on line at: https://cws.org.nz/donate-now-ukraine/ or by phone: 0800 74 73 72. Thank you.