We send money regularly through established safe pathways. Normally this is not an issue but in the current circumstances it will be more challenging. As such, we are working hard to both establish funds for when we can easily get money to people and identify new and emerging ways during a war to send money directly to our team.
We are building and fundraising now, so we can act fast as soon as we can get aid sent out and rebuild the ministry within the region. We need the money to be able to respond immediately aiding relief to those displaced and living as refugees, without having to wait for money to come in. We want to move fast as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so.
We have been doing this for 23 years with full audited accounts. We have a proven track record and history of working with Hope Lebedyn and the community there over two generations.
Hope100, the aim to raise £100,000 fast for Hope Lebedyn is being managed in partnership with Stewardship, who can facilitate collection and fundraising alongside sharing of this project on social media and to their wider contacts. To achieve this, we are covering some costs, but the good news is that over 98% (TBC) of the money donated will go straight to the Hope Lebedyn ministry.
Lebedyn is in the eastern oblast of Sumy which borders onto Russia. It is just 30 miles southwest of the city of Sumy and similarly north of Kharkiv.
The care shown for the people living in what was the poorest region of the Ukraine before the war is unprecedented. We try to reach the broken and fallen, those that live with disability, the homeless, the prisoners, the abandoned children, the sick, the elderly, the hungry, the forgotten and the loved. We show love and care rooted from our Christian faith to reach out in practical, physical and spiritual ways. A wholistic work that makes an impact and difference and gives purpose and hope.
The Centre is run by the local people of Ukraine. Most of the team have been recipients of the work achieved. We do not employ any foreign nationals to work and live in Lebedyn. The Mission Centre has its own separate legal entity in Ukraine to ensure it abides by local rules and regulations. It is owned by the people and run by the people.
Costs are kept to a minimum through working as part of the charity Essential Christian, which means that overheads for Hope Lebedyn are extremely low. Where possible all donations go in full to support the work in Lebedyn or to help Ukrainian refugees.
