A woman receives needed supplies on March 15th when MCC partner Charitable Foundation Uman Help Center distributed MCC relief buckets, hygiene kits and blankets in Uman city, at a Baptist church, along with other humanitarian supplies.
What's going on?
On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian military forces began an invasion of Ukraine. Shelling, air strikes and other active hostilities have caused serious damage to homes and infrastructure, including power, gas and water systems.
Recent missile attacks targeted Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure across the country, leaving approximately 10 million people without access to electricity. This also affects access to heating and water, especially critical during the cold winter months.
Millions of people have been forcibly displaced since the conflict began, either relocating within Ukraine or fleeing the country according to the UN refugee agency.
Conflict has been ongoing between Russia and Ukraine since late 2013, with Russia annexing the Crimea peninsula in March 2014.
What is MCC doing?
- MCC’s response includes humanitarian projects providing food, cash, shelter, medicine and hygiene supplies to displaced people, host families and those who’ve fled or lost their homes. As of December 2022, MCC donors have generously raised more than $11 million toward our Ukraine response.
- MCC is working in regions across Ukraine including Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Volyn, Zakarpattia and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. MCC partners are providing heating fuel, generators, emergency shelter, hot meals, food baskets, cash assistance, medicine and other essential items to tens of thousands of Ukrainians.
- MCC also is offering trauma support for those affected by the ongoing violence, including children and partner staff.
- Partners indicate that local churches are instrumental in offering emergency support and basic needs; church buildings have been and continue to be places to gather for safety and prayer, and for people to come together to support their neighbors.
- MCC has shipped seven containers of material resources to Ukraine. The shipments included essential relief items including relief kits, hygiene kits, infant care kits, comforters and canned meat. More shipments are being planned.
- MCC has worked in Ukraine since our beginnings in 1920, opening soup kitchens to provide relief to thousands of starving families. Our projects in Ukraine prior to the Russian invasion included relief, peace, health and education programs.
Look at the difference you made in the 2022 Ukraine impact report.
What you can do
- Pray: Please join us as we pray for peace in Ukraine:
- Give: MCC is accepting donations for a response in Ukraine. Our partners are already at work on the ground, providing relief where they can with food, medications, fuel and other supplies.
For those who want to donate emergency supplies, such as relief kits or comforters, to help vulnerable people in Ukraine — or in other places around the world — please visit our website or contact your local MCC office.
- Advocate: Send messages asking that the U.S. government support peaceful solutions in Ukraine. You can also read our call for peace and nonviolence in the midst of war, written by Rick Cober Bauman, executive director of MCC Canada, and Ann Graber Hershberger, executive director of MCC U.S.
- Welcome Ukrainians: Though MCC does not directly support refugee resettlement in the U.S., Charity Stowell, Newcomer Connections Coordinator, can help you connect with refugee resettlement organizations and other resources. See an MCC webinar on welcoming Ukrainians and Venezuelans, or explore other resources on offering welcome. Charity can be reached at welcome@mcc.org.
