New Update from December 2022
Dear family and friends,
Many of you have asked me how my cousin and her order are doing this year. Here is a brief update about their work.
I just had a call with my cousin Gosia (short for Małgorzata) this weekend and she filled me in how the past few weeks and months have been for the sisters and the people in their care.
In Poland they are continuing to offer housing, food and day to day support to some Ukrainian refugees (especially elderly) who have nowhere to go back to in Ukraine due to their destroyed homes and complete lack of resources to rebuild a life.
The sisters who had ministries set up in Kharkiv and Korotycz (before the war) initially fled with the people in their care, and found refuge in a monastery in Western Ukraine. A makeshift school and day care center was set up for the young children. To this day the mothers and children remain in the monastery since it is safer, but the majority of the sisters have returned to Kharkiv when the mass withdrawal of Russian troops occurred since they felt this is where they could help the most due to the desperation of the people who are still in the city.
The sisters are witnessing the mass destruction of the city, infrastructure and collapse of the electric grid and are supporting the remaining residents in the city with food, clothing, diapers, baby supplies etc. The sisters drive to Poland (where my Polish cousin is working) on a regular basis with a big bus and pick up the supplies that either local Polish residents are donating or that are purchased through donations.
Any donations collected as part of this fundraiser will be passed on directly to the sisters located in Poland who will use the funds to purchase supplies for Ukraine (mostly in the in Kharkiv region).
Thank you for all your support!
Kasia
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Dear friends and family,
I am writing to ask you for your help in light of the humanitarian crisis as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over the past week I have been in touch with my family in eastern Poland, only 1.5 hours away from the Ukrainian border. My beloved Polish cousin Marta Małgorzata Kalinowska is a sister in a Catholic order, the 'Congregation of the Missionaries of Mercy,' with sisters throughout Poland and Ukraine. They tend to people in need, including the elderly, homeless, children with disabilities, and single mothers.
The Ukrainian sisters with ministries in eastern Ukraine ( Kharkiv and Korotycz) spent the first few days of the war sheltering in basements with the people in their care . When it became apparent that the Russian attacks on their towns were not about to stop, they managed to organize a bus to escape eastern Ukraine. After a harrowing journey of several days, during which most of the children (the youngest is 1 month old) became sick, they finally found emergency shelter in a monastery in the west of Ukraine which Russian troops haven't reached yet. With the donations the sisters received so far, they have been able to purchase supplies which are on their way back to Eastern Ukraine where many people have not been able to leave yet. According to the sisters the situation in eastern Ukraine is dire: in some places there is no drinking water, electricity, food or medical supplies available.
A few priests from western Ukraine who work with the sisters have volunteered to take on the dangerous journey to eastern Ukraine to deliver supplies to eastern Ukraine and our prayer is that God would protect them and allow them to deliver the supplies safely and hopefully be able to transport people out of eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, on the Polish side of the border, the Polish sisters are providing emergency supplies and donations to the Ukrainian sisters and simultaneously are preparing for the arrival of the Ukrainian refugees in Poland and are in desperate need of pretty much everything needed to sustain these refugees (accommodation, food and clothing, baby and medical supplies, etc).
If you would like to support the sisters both in Ukraine and Poland, kindly consider donating money. I will personally pass these funds on to my cousin's order and will periodically update those who are interested in the status of their humanitarian work.
Thank you!
Kasia
