Jeremiah’s Hope, a local nonprofit organization, will ship two containers full of donated relief aid items to Ukraine to help refugees.

Aside from its regular ministry of serving orphans and children at risk in difficult family situations, the organization has provided housing, meals, clothing and care to the refugees of Ukraine.

“The refugee crisis is worsening with entire towns and cities evacuating now,” said Jenny Kelly, wife of Jeremiah’s Hope co-founder Andrew Kelly (’01). “Many who are unable to evacuate have no access to food, and many are literally starving.”

Jeremiah’s Hope has been collecting non-perishable food items in order to meet some of those needs. The organization has collected and will be shipping three containers of food to Ukraine, two of which will be shipped from Abilene this week.

“This crisis is huge and growing with over a million internally-displaced people as a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Kelly said.

The organization first began aiding the refugees after the Kelleys received a phone call asking if they could take in refugees at their facility in Ukraine. The organization continues to serve the refugees on its property and in cooperation with other churches and organizations.

“To serve those kids, we have a ministry facility that operates as a 100-bed camp,” Kelly said. “So we were set up to take in refugees pretty easily and we agreed.”

Jeremiah’s Hope enlisted help from a few of ACU’s social clubs. The women of Sigma Theta Chi, Ko Jo Kai and GATA collected various items during their Sing Song rehearsals. The neighborhoods of Hillcrest, University Hills and Country Meadows gave food via sacks distributed to their homes.

Alexis Walter, sophomore kinesiology major from Arlington, was one student who got involved.

“My church has worked closely with Jeremiah’s Hope since my youth group went on a mission trip there in the summer of 2012,” she said. “Since that mission trip, Ukraine and its people have been very close to my heart.”

Others involved in the food drive include those at Lubbock ISD Rush Elementary School and churches from the Dallas/Fort Worth area including North Davis Church of Christ and St. Sophia’s Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.