KITCHENER – The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an Anabaptist non-profit organization, is scaling its existing programs to provide support within Ukraine after Russia, on Feb. 24, drastically escalated a military attack on the sovereign nation following its 2014 invasion and subsequent occupancy.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 364 Ukrainians have been killed, including 25 children, and 759 injured in the recent crisis as of March 5, which has also uprooted the lives of over one million Ukrainians.
“The long-term response will likely include psychosocial support and trauma healing, temporary emergency housing, emergency distributions of locally purchased emergency supplies such as blankets, and distribution of food packages,” a Feb. 25 MCC press release stated.
All international MCC staff were relocated from Ukraine on Feb. 13 but other staff remain. MCC Ukraine representative Rebecca Hessenauer stated in the release that “partners have supplies ready to help vulnerable and displaced people.”
But the organization is looking for donations to help support its response.
“One hundred years ago, we responded to crisis in Ukraine,” stated MCC Canada executive director Rick Cober Bauman. “A century later, we find ourselves walking alongside the people of Ukraine in crisis once again. They are pleading for our prayer and support, and a reminder they have not been forgotten during this time.”
To find out more, visit: donate.mcccanada.ca/cause/ukraine-emergency-response.
