We wanted to be on the edge of the crisis – and we’ve found it.

Over the last three months, AJM and its partners have sent 140,000 pounds of food into Ukraine. 

I just returned to Cluj taking in thousands of pounds of food to hungry Ukrainians. The day before our team arrived, several homes were wiped out just two streets over. I felt my bed shaking from missiles being shot nearby that first night in Mykolaiv. 

Since we’ve shifted our focus to the southern hit areas of Ukraine, we’ve seen God move powerfully in these places of desperate need. These are not deliveries without risk.

When we deliver to this region, we stay in a church that is currently just a few miles from the front lines of the war. This is close enough that the Russians will fire off random short range missiles over the front line to rain down in the city.

We’ve said since the beginning that we wanted to be on the edge of the crisis — and we’ve found it.

Our team’s first drop-off was to a small church near the current battleline. When we arrived, the pastor was ready to burst into tears. He had no idea we were coming, and just a couple of days prior, his community of 300 people had run completely out of food. 

As we talked to the pastor and stood together, he began to pray, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. This man had been praying for a miracle, and our team was the answer!

For at least the next week, this community will eat again.

We had another powerful encounter with a woman named Tatiana. She’s a volunteer in Mykolaiv and focuses on distributing food to those in need. She mentioned wanting to evacuate, but recently said she no longer wants to because at least in Mykolaiv she “has something to hope for.” 

She explained that if she flees, she has to start a new life. If she stays, then there’s hope that her husband will one day return from the war. She fears he won’t come home, yet she clings to hope.

Then she asked our team, “So, why are you here? How long?” We explained how we’ve been helping transport food over the last three months into the hardest hit areas. 

She pressed again, “Why?” 

To which I replied, “Because of people like your husband and yourself.” 

Tatiana didn’t choose this nightmare she’s living through, and one of our biggest hopes through these food deliveries is for people like her to know that they aren’t alone and that God sees them and loves them. Before the team left, we prayed for Tatiana and her husband. It was an extremely powerful time together.

I hope that these stories encourage you. Through your compassion, countless lives have been impacted. Your investment in this Kingdom work is saving lives. 

Our work is far from over, so I hope you’ll consider giving to AJM as we seek to mobilize more semi-trucks filled with food and supplies for the hurting people of Ukraine.