During March, many in our congregation responded to the crisis in Ukraine with donations to Last Bell Ministries (www.lastbell.org).  Last Bell Ministries has been serving orphans and orphanage graduates in Zhytomyr, Ukraine since 2006. Ukrainian staff members mentor, counsel, apprentice, and disciple these young adults, living out a mission of loving and restoring orphanage graduates towards life and community.  Following is a short update.

To date, Last Bell has helped about 300 orphan graduates and their children evacuate to Latvia, Romania, Poland and other bordering countries.  A group of Last Bell refugees who were housed in a retreat center in Poland are making another move, leaving for the Netherlands to make room for other refugees to come to Poland. Of Ukraine’s 44 million people, about 10 million are now displaced; 4 million have fled across the border which means 1 million new refugees each week.

Most of the Last Bell staff are still in Ukraine and meeting the needs of local orphaned students and families and neighbors.  A staff member wrote, “As you pray for our displaced families, God is providing. Thank you!”

Liz Sayre, March 30, 2022