Photo by Sue WatsonApril Dunning of Olive Branch and Mark David Shiers and Adam Miller of Saltillo help load items onto a container last week for shipping to Poland.
World/Ukraine Missions ships to refugees
They work tirelessly to pack large containers pulled by 18-wheelers with survival necessities for the refugees crossing the boarder from Ukraine into Poland.
The Churches of Christ are diverting their shipments that would usually go to some 2,000 orphans in Ukraine to what is now thousands of women, children, and seniors seeking safe haven from the war in Ukraine started February 24 by the Russian Federation.
Three loads were packed out March 8, 9 and 10 with food, clothing and hygiene products.
The first shipment was loaded with Buckets of Blessings (hygiene products), blankets, winter coats, clothing and new shoes, according to Jerry Moore Jr., with Holly Springs Church of Christ. The second truck will carry rice meals, clothing, and buckets and the third will contain clothing, medical supplies, buckets, and canned meats and fish.
The containers will be put on a train in Rossville, Tenn., and go by rail to Miami, Florida, where they will be loaded at the docks or cargoed by plane to a warehouse in Poland, right across the border from Ukraine, Moore said.
“They are currently feeding and clothing refugees and displaced families at the border,” he said.
A team of three will travel to the warehouse in Poland to make sure the shipments go to those intended for its use, he said.
His father-in-law Jerry Morgan; Charita Steynberg, a translator living in New Jersey; and John Kachelman, who operates a warehouse in Montgomery, Ala.; have agreed to follow the material to assure it is distributed to those the Mission intends.
World/Ukraine Missions was established in 2004 as a ministry of the Churches of Christ out of Piggott, Ark. The mission, centered mainly in the Mid-West and Southeastern U.S., has gathered supplies for orphanages in Ukraine and other countries.
Moore said he has been active in the local group the last two years.
There were about 30 volunteers packing and loading goods each day last week from the World/Ukraine Missions warehouse on East College Avenue in Holly Springs.
Moore said the volunteers include many from the Holly Springs area and large numbers from Tupelo, DeSoto County, Memphis, Tenn., and Senatobia.
“We have taken a pause to work with refugees,” Moore said. “Our kids (orphans) are refugees.” He said the children have been disbursed into safe places in the western area of Ukraine away from the area of fighting.
Other organizations are providing tents for refugees, he said.
To help in the local effort, call Moore at 662-274-4436.
Matthew 25:31-40
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.