Faith Under Fire: Reimer speaks at Belpre church about humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine
Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International based in Louisville, Ky., spoke a couple times on Sunday, June 11, to local residents at the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Belpre about the ongoing war in Ukraine with Russian forces. Reimer was originally born in Ukraine and the organization she works for is providing help to people in Ukraine. (Photo Provided)
The Bethany Church in Mariupol, Ukraine, was recently hit and damaged by Russian shelling. Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International, spoke recently in Belpre about how with everything that has happened in the country (where she was originally born) the Christian Cross was still intact. (Photo Provided)
The Christ the Savior Church in Mariupol, Ukraine, was heavily damaged in attacks by Russian forces. Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International, spoke recently in Belpre about the war and the impact it has had on people there. The organization is helping with relief efforts and humanitarian aid. (Photo Provided)
Some of the 70,000 pounds of potatoes donated to relief efforts to help people in war-torn Ukraine. The potatoes were donated to the effort from people in the western part of the country who lived in more secure and safer areas. (Photo Provided)
Through efforts from Mulberry International based in Louisville, Ky., a children’s home in Mariupol, Ukraine, including 29 children and 19 adults, was recently evacuated. Evacuation of vulnerable people has become one of the organization’s top priorities. (Photo Provided)
People evacuated from a children’s home in Mariupol, Ukraine, traveled for two weeks to reach safety, first out of Ukraine and then across Romania, Hungary and into Germany. They spent nights in churches that would open their doors to them. (Photo Provided)
People evacuated from a children’s home in Mariupol, Ukraine, including 29 children and 19 adults, made their way to Germany recently. The children’s ages range from 7-17 with the majority elementary to middle school age. (Photo Provided)
A convoy carrying children out of war-torn areas of Ukraine was put together by Mulberry International in Louisville, Ky. Their convoy had markings that they were carrying children. (Photo Provided)
Relief workers gather aid for people in war-torn Ukraine. Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International, recently talked to local residents in Belpre about the war and relief efforts. She said many relief workers making deliveries to the country are Ukrainian themselves and are helping the people in their own country. Many are affiliated with churches and also provide ministering to the people they make deliveries to. (Photo Provided)
Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International based in Louisville, Ky., spoke a couple times on Sunday, June 11, to local residents at the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Belpre about the ongoing war in Ukraine with Russian forces. Reimer was originally born in Ukraine and the organization she works for is providing help to people in Ukraine. (Photo Provided)
The Bethany Church in Mariupol, Ukraine, was recently hit and damaged by Russian shelling. Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International, spoke recently in Belpre about how with everything that has happened in the country (where she was originally born) the Christian Cross was still intact. (Photo Provided)
The Christ the Savior Church in Mariupol, Ukraine, was heavily damaged in attacks by Russian forces. Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International, spoke recently in Belpre about the war and the impact it has had on people there. The organization is helping with relief efforts and humanitarian aid. (Photo Provided)
Some of the 70,000 pounds of potatoes donated to relief efforts to help people in war-torn Ukraine. The potatoes were donated to the effort from people in the western part of the country who lived in more secure and safer areas. (Photo Provided)
Through efforts from Mulberry International based in Louisville, Ky., a children’s home in Mariupol, Ukraine, including 29 children and 19 adults, was recently evacuated. Evacuation of vulnerable people has become one of the organization’s top priorities. (Photo Provided)
People evacuated from a children’s home in Mariupol, Ukraine, traveled for two weeks to reach safety, first out of Ukraine and then across Romania, Hungary and into Germany. They spent nights in churches that would open their doors to them. (Photo Provided)
People evacuated from a children’s home in Mariupol, Ukraine, including 29 children and 19 adults, made their way to Germany recently. The children’s ages range from 7-17 with the majority elementary to middle school age. (Photo Provided)
A convoy carrying children out of war-torn areas of Ukraine was put together by Mulberry International in Louisville, Ky. Their convoy had markings that they were carrying children. (Photo Provided)
Relief workers gather aid for people in war-torn Ukraine. Natasha Reimer, executive director of Mulberry International, recently talked to local residents in Belpre about the war and relief efforts. She said many relief workers making deliveries to the country are Ukrainian themselves and are helping the people in their own country. Many are affiliated with churches and also provide ministering to the people they make deliveries to. (Photo Provided)
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BELPRE -- A woman born in Ukraine reflected on the state of affairs in the country from the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 to the full invasion last year as she spoke over the past weekend in Belpre.
Natasha Reimer of Mulberry International spoke a couple times on Sunday, June 11, to local residents at the Walnut Street Church of Christ in Belpre.
Reimer was originally born and raised in the Crimea region of Ukraine. She moved to the U.S. in 1997 and now lives in Louisville, Ky., with her husband and two children. She has been serving with Mulberry International for 15 years and is now its executive director.
Although the main invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, Russia originally annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014.
"The war in Ukraine actually started in 2014," Reimer said. "What is happening now is not really the beginning of the war. The war actually started over eight years ago with the full-scale invasion starting last year."
Mulberry International promotes transformation by bringing hope and healing to at-risk children and families in Ukraine and beyond, according to the group's website. The group was started shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and has worked to help people in the country.
In the beginning the organization was working with helping children in orphanages and in abusive situations be able to be adopted, placed in foster care and opening a group home to help at-risk children, Reimer said.
"All of that was shut down when Russia took over Crimea," she said.
Since 2014, the group's efforts have been focused on helping people in Ukraine displaced and suffering as a result of the war with the support of local churches established in the country with a lot of the focus originally on the Crimea region. Now it is trying to help all regions impacted by the war. The city of Mariupol recently has taken heavy damage and its people have had to leave, but the ministry's efforts are now spread more throughout the region.
From 2014 to January 2022, before the main Russian invasion began, there were around 14,000 people killed. Since February 2022, over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, over 20,000 civilians killed, around 18 million people displaced, there are around 6 million refugees and around 12 million people in need of shelter, food and water. Some estimates have around 250,000 Russian soldiers killed.
"In real life, those numbers could be higher," Reimer said.
Prior to the war, Ukraine had a population of around 40 million people. With around 18 million displaced that means almost half the country's population does not have a home which was either destroyed or in an unsafe area they had to leave or they are now in substandard housing.
Mulberry International is working on evacuation efforts for the children's homes they supported. They were able to evacuate a children's home and got 29 children and 19 adults out over a two-week drive through dangerous areas, spending the night in churches that would open their doors to them.
In a couple weeks, the organization will be doing a summer camp program for Ukrainian children who are now in Germany. They are also working on humanitarian aid in getting supplies to Ukrainians who need them, including 40,000 pounds of meals.
"Our volunteers on the ground (most of whom are Ukrainian) are the ones doing the dangerous work," Reimer said of people who deliver aid as well as minister to those in need. "They work around the clock doing all of the dangerous work and going into harm's way when they themselves are also displaced."
She talked about a well project in Mariupol which was completed in late 2021 which has helped keep many people alive during the bombings in 2022.
"We don't know how many hundreds of people we were able to save that way," Reimer said.
She talked about the recent destruction of the Kakhovka Dam which flooded over 80 towns and villages which cut off people's electricity, fresh water, access to food and more. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians have blamed each other for the dam's destruction.
"People are dying," Reimer said. "Many people who were under fire are now under water."
Their group has worked on getting inflatable boats to be able to reach people. However, they are limited in what they can do because of areas in the region are under Russian occupation.
"It is a very discouraging time in Ukraine," Reimer said. "To see how churches are reacting and helping, I have never seen such sacrifice and such love shown for another. I am proud of them."
She talked about how many people in that area are turning to God even when things seem hopeless as people came together in bomb shelters and other places under attack.
"When people are scared and they hear bombing and shelling over their heads, you are not going to be an atheist," Reimer said. "You are going to believe in something."
She showed pictures of destroyed buildings and churches that sustained heavy damage from the fighting. One church, the Bethany Church in Mariupol where she spoke in 2016, has since been hit by weapons fire and still had a cross intact on the outside of the building.
"The church was charred when it had an explosion next to it, but the cross is still there," Reimer said. "Even in these dark charred times of the war, the church is still working to shine the light of Christ to those who need it."
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com