Last weekend, a bake sale at a Ukrainian church located in Nicholasville, Kentucky raised a whopping $145,000 for Ukrainian refugees.
NPR reports hundreds of people filled the lobby of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church after the doors opened on Saturday morning.
Visitors attending the sale were given lunch and the opportunity to buy baked goods.
One couple attending the sale, Gary and Linda Fleck, told NPR why they stopped by. “We came to buy some baked goods and support the Ukrainians in the issues that are going on right now,” Linda said.
“There are so many refugees who need help. And we’re just trying to do what we can in order to help those people who’ve been displaced by the war,” Gary explained.
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Victor Selepina, the organizer of the church’s fundraiser, said he was shocked by how many people showed up.
“Very surprised – as in, just overwhelmed with gratitude,” he told NPR. “Honestly, it’s just been great to see people come together like that – the community just – and help out and do what they can. Absolutely. It’s amazing.”
Many members of the Nicholasville church, like Paul Kononets, still have family back in Ukraine.
“I have my cousins, my aunts and uncles there,” Kononets told the outlet. “They are on the western part of Ukraine, which is not struggling as much. But they have a lot of people who’s actually coming from north and east right now. So they’re actually opening up their homes, trying to get as many people as they can.”
Selepina explained that years ago, the church had a prophecy to be prepared for refugees.
“It was a prophecy in our church. And people know that. Every single individual knows that. So we’re definitely getting prepared,” he said.
The money that was raised by the bake sale will be given to churches in Ukraine with ties to the Kentucky church. The churches will use the money to purchase food and supplies for refugees, according to Christian Headlines.
As CBN News has reported, other churches across the U.S. continue to raise funds and other supplies for Ukrainian refugees.
A Ukrainian Catholic congregation in Boston, Massachusetts, has been busy gathering medical supplies, food, and other necessities to send to their fellow countrymen as they fight against the Russian forces who have invaded Ukraine.
The Boston Herald reports members of the Christ The King Ukrainian Catholic Church in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston have turned their church rectory into a wartime supply depot for Ukraine’s citizen militias.
In addition, Poland’s churches are responding to the crisis in Ukraine. One pastor who transformed his church into a refugee center is receiving assistance from CBN’s Operation Blessing.
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