A church asked Boise area to help Ukraine. It didn’t expect this ‘overwhelming’ response
Watching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on TV from his Boise home, Ukranian-born Leo Martsinyuk had the overwhelming feeling that he had to do something.
“I couldn’t sit and take it anymore,” Martsinyuk, a Boise resident, said. “I was like, ‘This is a nightmare. I’m going to wake up, and this whole thing is going to be done. I could not believe that the Russians could do that to Ukrainians.”
He and other local immigrants from Eastern Europe soon organized a donation drive. So far, they’ve gathered more than 2,500 boxes of items and $115,000 in monetary donations.
As the worrying phone calls from friends and family back in Ukraine started rolling in, Martsinyuk was able to lean on others in the Treasure Valley who understood what he was experiencing. He is a member of the Full Gospel Slavic Church in Meridian, one of nine Slavic churches in the Treasure Valley.
Created in the 1980s by people who had fled the Soviet Union, the Full Gospel Slavic Church offers Christian services, usually in the Ukrainian or Russian language, to Treasure Valley residents who grew up speaking a Slavic language. In addition to Russians and Ukrainians, the church is home to congregants from Belarus, Romania and Moldova.
The Full Gospel Slavic Church came together with the other Slavic churches in the area to organize efforts to collect donations. The most essential items they’ve asked for are medical supplies, first aid kits, water purifying tablets, thermal blankets and other survival supplies. They’ve also received non-perishable food, clothing, baby items and hygiene products.
“We never expected this to take off like this,” Martsinyuk said. “Treasure Valley is great, I’ll tell you that. There is a response from people I never knew, never met, never talked to, that come to our doors and donate for Ukraine. That’s amazing by itself.”
Natalia Khochay, another Ukrainian-Boisean and member of Full Gospel Slavic Church, has been working to make sure the items get to those who need them most.
The churches leaders, who soon had volunteers from other local non-Slavic churches and organizations, spent more than a week preparing the items for shipment. Local restaurants sent meals over to feed the volunteers who worked up to 12 hours each day.
After church, members gathered to pray over the boxes. The first shipment left for Kentucky by semitruck on Sunday. From there, the most essential items will be sent by air to Poland and Germany, and the rest will arrive later by sea.
Brighton Corp., a real estate development company in Meridian, offered to finance the shipments going by cargo plane. A local Lowe’s store donated the boxes.
“We are just overwhelmingly grateful,” Khochay said. “...It’s been amazing to see the community coming together and help people that are on the other side of the world in their time of dire need.”
Eleven on-the-ground volunteers are driving the shipments across the border towns in Ukraine. The volunteers are also helping evacuate people by providing a ride out of the country on their return journey.
“In a lot of instances, they are risking their lives to do so,” Khochay said.
The supplies, she said, could not be more needed. One family that has received supplies purchased with Boise donations had been without water for nine days and melting snow to drink.
Khochay checks in on her family members often. Her husband’s family has been baking bread in their bakery for those without food. Her cousins’ husbands have been drafted and one narrowly missed being harmed by a bomb. Another relative, a father of six, was shot and killed while delivering aid on behalf of a different organization.
“There’s no nowhere in Ukraine that’s completely safe,” Khochay said.
Full Gospel Slavic Church plans to hold another item drive once it has gotten all the current boxes shipped. For those who want to support their efforts, the group continues to accept monetary donations and Amazon purchases from its wish list. Medical supplies can still be dropped off by appointment. More information on how to donate can be found at fgschurch.org/ukrainerelief.
