Ukraine relief

A home, a shelter, a community

Nine weeks of war, over 50 days of hosting people at our office. As of today, more than 500 Ukrainians found shelter here. We were determined to take in as many people as we could so they wouldn’t spend the night in the train station, especially the women and children. 

Two Natalias and their toddlers. Kira and Elizaveta (picture from the header) came to us on March 7 th together with their moms and a friend, a group of seven women and children. They were heading West. We helped them find free transportation to Poland, as they wanted. But, as the number of refugees increased there, they found no safe situations so, on March 18 th , they came back to our shelter saying that they felt safe here and wanted to stay in Bucharest until the war ends. It was hard to find an apartment, so we took them to a Christian center where they could stay a few weeks. They were not able to find jobs there, so they want to come back, but it is hard to find a long term housing solution for them in Bucharest.

It’s difficult to find housing solutions for those who have decided to stay in Romania for the duration of the war.  

Apartment rentals in Bucharest increased drastically, and landlords are requiring six months of rent up front due to the uncertainty of renting to refugees.  Christian camps are able to house refugees for long periods, but these are in remote places making it impossible for the refugees to find work to support themselves, and they lack schools, churches and medical services. 

Hosting refugees at our office provided the freedom to invest in their lives in ways that were not possible at other locations.  We shared the Gospel freely, organized special nights to show the “Jesus” film in Ukrainian, and great relationships were formed. We’ve seen a lot of tears as refugees leave our shelter. A Ukrainian community is beginning to form here.   

 We’re finding more ways to serve these precious people. A Ukrainian Cru staff family relocated to Bucharest and is involved with opening a Ukrainian school near our office.  A Ukrainian church has begun, and last Sundays 60 of our guests participated in the service.  They loved it!  We had three barbecues at the office for Ukrainians living in the neighborhood to help build community.  

 As we looked at our available resources, a thought and a prayer began form of ways to build community at our office. We have conference rooms for events and activities, and we have an empty lot behind our office.  We can organize a refugee camp in the middle of Bucharest!       
 We are working with an engineer and architect to do this project to standard and do it quickly and easily.  

 The price for one furnished container is $15,000.   

Would you be able to join us in helping to create a camp in the middle of Bucharest and a community for Ukrainians?

Would you and your frends, small group and church embark in the challange to help us buy one more container? We already received donations for five units and are working to raise the funds for seven more.

If you would like to contribute, please send your donations online here:  https://give.cru.org/1145251

OR directly to Romania (not tax-deductible) on this page, accesing the yellow Donate button on the right.

Also, you can  send a donation through bank transfer at:
Thank you for partnering with us in this time of crisis!

For Romania Cru Team,

Nelu Suciu, National Team Leader