Responding to the Urgency of the Moment

Dear Friend,

When Russia attacked Ukraine four and a half years ago, no one expected a long and grinding war. But rather than being resolved quickly, the war has dragged on with devastating consequences for the Ukrainian people.

We already had a ministry on the ground in Ukraine before the war started. Our focus then was primarily on poor Holocaust survivors and Jewish orphans. 

Of course we have continued that vital work all through the war, but now we are also reaching out to help the millions of refugees, as well as the churches that have become focal points of ministry and hope for those in need.

I know you care about what is happening in Ukraine, and I wanted to thank you again for the previous gift you gave for the urgent needs of suffering people. 

Though Ukraine isn’t getting much attention in the news these days, things are rapidly getting worse day after day.

The fighting continues, and it is not limited to soldiers. 

Russia is bombing power stations, water plants, hospitals and schools. 

And though it’s still very hot where I live, it will not be long before the cold and bitter Ukrainian winter comes again.

The Russian attacks have left millions homeless. Millions have fled the country, and millions more are refugees inside Ukraine, unable to return to their homes…if those homes are even still standing. 

Delivery systems for food and medicine are crippled, and the help we are providing is literally the difference between life and death. 

Week after week the trucks roll out, loaded with supplies and heading to the front lines of the battle.

I’d like to ask you to pray in a special way for our teams on the ground in Ukraine today. 

They are putting their lives on the line to deliver the aid that your generosity makes possible. Like you, they understand the urgency of this moment.

As I mentioned before, we were already on the ground in Ukraine for a decade before the war started. 

One fourth of all the Jews killed in the Holocaust were killed in Ukraine. Across the country, there are 2,000 mass graves. I visited one of those mass graves…the one where my great grandfather, whom I was named after, Rabbi Mikhail Katz-Nelson was buried after being burned to death along with 2,000 other Jews from his synagogue in what is now Belarus.

Because of the work we had already been doing in Ukraine, desperate people turned to us for help when Russia started the war. 

The scope of suffering and destruction of a lengthy modern war that knows no battlefield limits is beyond what most of us can even imagine.

As you read this today, there are homeless Ukrainians living in Sunday school classrooms. 

The churches desperately need food for these people, clothing, medicine, and everything else for those who have lost everything they had. Many of those living in churches are widows and orphans. So we reached out to begin helping them as well. 

Since the war began, we have delivered millions and millions of pounds of food from Warsaw, Poland, to the front lines of Ukraine. 

And today our trucks are still going in, averaging three trucks a week. 

I have not asked for your help with the outreach in Ukraine for some time, but the need is absolutely urgent right now. 

So many precious people in Ukraine have nowhere else to turn for help.

We want to do everything we can to help, but the only way Friends of Zion can do that is if friends like you make it possible. 

Would you please prayerfully consider sending another gift right now…or as God leads, perhaps you can do even more.

I’ve been to Ukraine multiple times since the war started, and each time I go, I come back with a broken heart. 

But I also come back encouraged because I’ve seen the difference friends like you are making by providing the vital necessities of life to those who have lost everything and don’t know how they’re going to make it through even the next few days.

The precious churches in Ukraine and the suffering Jewish community desperately need us now. Thank you for being the hands of Jesus reaching out to them in love.

Your ambassador to Jerusalem,

Dr. Mike Evans

P.S. Please pray for the people of Ukraine whose lives have been devastated by the loss of homes, family members, and so much more. The multiplied thousands of people we have already helped are just the tip of the iceberg, and with the tragedies being repeated again and again, we must do all that we can to help. Please let me hear from you right away, and thank you in advance for your generous gift.