Sooo I promised a blog explaining a little bit more about what we’re doing here in Ukraine, so here it is! Sorry it’s taken me so long to sit down and write it…I think because the ministry we are partnered with, Jeremiah’s Hope, is very dynamic.
What is Jeremiah’s Hope?
Jeremiah’s Hope is a Christian organization in Kolentsi, Ukraine (1hr north of Kiev) run by our contacts, Andrew and Jenny Kelly. The organization was founded in 2003 primarily as a charitable organization for orphan children. The organization now expanded and has many outreach components including a summer camp, a transitional rescue home for orphans and abused children, an outreach to children in needy and abusive situations as well as many community-based outreaches such as medical clinics, retreats, church meetings, etc.
What have you been doing at Jeremiah’s Hope?
We live and serve at the campground and with summer approaching we have been doing a lot of things around here to get the ministry ready to host children from our village and the surrounding villages for summer camp…painting, cleaning, building sidewalks, planting flowers, etc 🙂
Helping to paint tire flower beds (with lead paint which explains the mask) and helping build a sidewalk at camp!
We’ve also been able to go on outreaches to the surrounding community with a branch of the ministry called the “Sasha Project”. They have been given information on 70 families who are at-risk in the community from a local social worker. During these visits we bring large food packages, pray over the homes and check in on the families and children. It was really shocking and heart-breaking to see how many people in this area live.
Bringing food and much-needed hope into the community. Jenny, our contact's wife, and Julie above bringing light into dark places.
We recently helped host free a dental clinic with “Mercy Trucks” here at Jeremiah's Hope. Many from the community came to receive much-needed procedures who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford or even have access to dental care.
Performing life-saving procedures at the dental clinic…like holding the head lamp and sorting tools 🙂 It was really awesome to be involved!
We have had the opportunity to interact with and love on the 4 children and house parents who are at the rescue shelter here on the campus. The children stay at the rescue house during the "processing time" between getting removed from an unstable home and being placed in either an adoptive home or an orphanage. These children have a beautiful joy despite their tragic circumstances.
Having dinner with the sweet kiddos at the rescue shelter 🙂
This past Friday we helped start the construction on a new chicken coop to house 100 egg-laying chickens (as opposed to the meaty ones…) who will help provide eggs for the campers and our ministry hosts 🙂
Check out this video we filmed during the construction of the chicken coop…Extreme Home Makeover…Chicken Edition. Needless to say the sun started to get to us after a long day of chicken coop building…enjoy 🙂
