The Marian Fathers in Kharkiv write, "Our sincere thanks to Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, director of the Marian Helpers Center in the U.S.A., and all members of the Association of Marian Helpers in the U.S.A. for their tireless financial assistance and shipping of essential medical supplies."
How to help
Please visit Marian.org/Ukraine to make a donation for Ukraine relief. One-hundred percent of funds received are sent directly to Ukraine and used to purchase humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
Please do not mail medical supplies to Ukraine! Instead, please contact the Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy: 1-877-380-0727 or e-mail [email protected] to answer any of your questions.
Because shipping via container is more cost effective, we prefer whatever monetary donations you can give rather than you sending medical supplies. Please know that boxes previously sent to the Marians or the EADM office were sent to Project C.U.R.E. and will be on future containers.
A Thank You from Ukraine
The Marian Fathers assigned to Holy Family Parish in Kharkiv, one of the hardest-hit cities in Ukraine, have sent a message to all you generous Marian Helpers whose prayers and support have been so indispensable since the war began. They write:
At Holy Family Parish in Kharkiv, run by the Congregation of Marian Fathers, we have good facilities where we and volunteers can sort and donate needed items to people who have suffered as a result of Russian aggression. We want to thank our benefactors from different parts of the world, especially our benefactors from the U.S.A. for their generosity and constant prayers. Your support, both material and spiritual, is extremely important to us and the war-stricken people of Ukraine.
Our sincere thanks to Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, director of the Marian Helpers Center in the U.S.A., and all members of the Association of Marian Helpers in the U.S.A. for their tireless financial assistance and shipping of essential medical supplies. Thanks to the director of the Marian Helpers Association in Poland and all donors from Poland for organizing the purchase of food, medical supplies, toiletries, and warm clothing, and delivering this aid to Kharkiv.
We continue to abide, minister to those in need, and we send greetings. We still need help!
May God bless and protect you all!
The Marian Fathers from Kharkiv
This new year, as we celebrated with family, plentiful food, and security, we must also remember the less fortunate, such as the people of Ukraine.
“I look at America. We’re so blessed,” said Dr. Bryan Thatcher, founder of the Marian Fathers’ apostolate Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy. “We’ve got so many problems and yet we are so blessed in so many ways, and I think of the old question, ‘How long do I have to keep giving?’ And the answer is, ‘Until the Master stops giving to you.’”
Marian response
Since Russia’s invasion began, the Marian Family has been pouring resources, prayers, and assistance of all kinds from across the world to the Marian Fathers, Marian Helpers, and people in need in Ukraine and in its neighboring countries, particularly Poland. Make no mistake – you are making a difference in the lives of victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I would like to thank the Marian Helpers who have contributed to the sustenance of our Marians in Ukraine along with their parishioners and all of those affected by the war,” said the Very Rev. Joseph Roesch, MIC, vicar general of the Marian Fathers. “Your contributions have made a tremendous difference, allowing vital medical supplies to get to places that desperately need them. May God reward you for your generosity. Let us continue to pray for the end of this tragic war.”
Father Wojciech “Wojtek” Jasinski, MIC, general treasurer for the Marian Fathers, shared that, so far, through the efforts of the Association of Marian Helpers in Warsaw, Poland, the Congregation has distributed around 50 shipments of goods (medical supplies, food, sleeping bags, and many others) – more than $1 million worth. “The shipments have been organized with the help of the Marians who work in Ukraine, and they know what’s needed,” Fr. Wojtek explained. “With the items received, they help the local communities, but also hospitals and the seriously wounded.”
Winter sets in
Recently, Fr. Wojtek sent $50,000 to the Mercy House in Gorodok, Ukraine, so the Marian Fathers there could finish additional rooms on the fifth floor to welcome more elderly people who need shelter. This is even more urgent as winter approaches.
Father Wojtek added that, in Poland, the Marians help many Ukrainian refugees who stay in our parishes and religious houses.
“Once again, I want to thank all the Marian Helpers around the world,” Fr. Wojtek said. “I understand that it might be difficult to keep on helping others when we ourselves struggle with various financial and personal difficulties. So, even more I would like to thank all for the support which is amazing. God bless you all.”
“Once again, I want to thank all the Marian Helpers around the world,” Fr. Wojtek said. “I understand that it might be difficult to keep on helping others when we ourselves struggle with various financial and personal difficulties. So, even more I would like to thank all for the support which is amazing. God bless you all.”
Mercy House in Gorodok, Ukraine, offers shelter to the frail elderly, an urgent need during these cold winter months.
The work goes on
Project C.U.R.E., the U.S. partner working with the Marian Fathers, donated over 400 emergency beds and critically-needed medical supplies totaling over $2 million, noted coordinators Dr. Thatcher and Marie Romagnano, MSN, RN, founder of the Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy.
“To date, with Project C.U.R.E., we have shipped 92 pallets of emergency medical equipment and supplies on 12 air cargo flights, and seven shipping containers are pending — all made possible by the generosity of Marian Helpers in the U.S.” said Nurse Marie. Two containers will arrive this week with critical medical and humanitarian supplies-all hand-picked according to their needs.
For all the aid that has been sent, though, the needs remain great, shortages acute, and the line of patients continues to grow.
“It’s not just a war,” explained Dr. Thatcher. “It’s really so much killing of civilians that the numbers are astronomical, and so they’re targeting babies and pregnant mothers and young people, and of course the elderly as well, so it’s just a catch all of medical needs.
“This isn’t even in a typical sense a war,” he continued. “They’re bombing, trying to punish the Ukrainians, to pound them into submission. And because of that, the innocents are suffering tremendously. Just think of the food crops, the wheat, destroying all the fields, bombing transportation centers. They’re finding mass graves of people all the time. They’re hogtied and killed. This is a sick atrocity.”
Dr. Thatcher quoted the old saying, “If you don’t stand up for something, you stand up for nothing.”
Prayers and donations
“I think we’ve got to continue the prayers,” he said. “Pray, pray, pray, especially to the Blessed Mother for her intercession. We’re asked to help, and give, and do works of mercy.”
“This work is having such a huge impact on so many refugees, the seriously injured, and the sick,” Nurse Marie concluded. “But the need has not abated. Please continue to be there for the Ukrainian people, and be generous!”