In a previous update I wrote a piece about United24. Continuing with the theme of some of the things we can do individually to help Ukraine, today I would like to write a little bit about the Ukraine Appeal of the Great Commission Society (GCS).
What brought this to my attention is New Zealand's former Minister of Defence, Ron Mark, traveling to Ukraine and doing aid work. This aid work is being done via GCS.
The part that interests me is the Ukraine Appeal, which has taken in over 1200 tonnes of humanitarian supplies and evacuated over 57700 people over the last 4 months. These missions are going into some quite dangerous parts of Ukraine and doing work on the ground distributing aid, evacuating people and visiting hospitals.
One of the issues with some of the common aid organisations is a large percentage of the money that gets donated doesn't actually end up making its way into the affected areas that need it most. I have a high level of confidence that the donations going to the GCS Ukraine Appeal are actually making it to where it is needed. You can even follow Ron Mark's Facebook page if you want to see a running commentary of what is happening (he is currently back in New Zealand).
GCS itself is a British evangelical organisation, but I don't believe you need to be Christian or religious to see that they are making a difference on the ground in Ukraine and anyway a large percentage of Ukraine's population are Orthodox (Eastern branch of Christianity).
Ron is the highest profile New Zealander I am aware of who has gone to the trouble of travelling into Ukraine and helping on the ground, so I believe he and the GCS team working in Ukraine deserve our support. He has also held in person discussions with the government of Ukraine. In my opinion this is something that our current government should be doing, especially since travelling to Kyiv is far less dangerous than travelling to Eastern Ukraine, but no current New Zealand MP has done so to date.
Also, Ron has been in favour of donating the NZLAVs to Ukraine, so his views match our petition.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has expressed gratitude for the aid work being done by Ron and the rest of the GCS Ukraine Appeal team.
In the Northern hemisphere they will be heading into winter soon so there will be more need than ever for humanitarian aid. Having been to Ukraine myself in the past I can tell you that it gets very cold in the Ukrainian winter which will be a huge issue for people who are struggling to get the basics.
Of course, there are many good charities to which you can donate, and the choice is entirely yours. There are too many in fact for me to list them all. This one is relevant because of the people involved and because it is proven to be effective.
Cheers,
Finn