The Louisville, KY Medical Supplies will be airlifted!
Almost since the beginning of this trip, Charita and I have been wrestling with the donation of critically needed medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in Louisville, KY. We have rehearsed every possible scenario and all came up empty. But last night I received an excited call from Charita and Kathy saying it has been resolved. This answer to prayer came one day before we lost the 275 pallets!! Here is Charita’s account of the day:
This has been an unbelievable day, or more like a morning. Yesterday I was getting all nervous because it seems that all the efforts have failed. If today does not prove that prayers are working, I don’t know what would. All started with Gif letting me know that we had no warehouse to drop off the cargo in KY, and at that moment Kathy and I started calling everyone one we know to figure out what to do. I even begged for some containers to be booked for Cipla to ship directly to Poland. But no one would do a booking in one day.
Charita
That is the moment Kathy got a call from Rubin at Staten Island who told us that he knows someone that can help.
Today we met with a founder of “The Tunnels to Towers” (https://t2t.org/) organization, and all our prayers have been answered. First this wonderful man called and reserved a cargo plane. While Kathy and I were working hard on getting 11 truck to pick up this cargo tomorrow for KY and deliver it to Staten Island, NY, T2T arranged a warehouse for our cargo to be stored in until the shipping. Then, by God’s help we got a call from a trucking company in AL that agreed to pick up all 11 truckloads and deliver them in NYC tomorrow. At that point we have to figure out how to get this through customs, so one of the doctors I am friends with sent my way Secretary from Ukraine Ministry of Health who agreed to assist us with transit from Poland into Ukraine.
In overall, this has been a very successfully day. That also took me away from my computer for all day, so I am going to spend tonight catching up.
Miss you and hope you have a wonderful day.
This amazing offer is from The Tunnel to Towers Foundation established to honor a brother who died in rescue attempts on 9/11. Go to their website (https://t2t.org/) and you will read their mission statement: “The Tunnel to Towers Foundation honors the sacrifice of firefighter Stephen Siller who laid down his life to save others on September 11, 2001. We also honor our military and first responders who continue to make the supreme sacrifice of life and limb for our country.” (https://t2t.org)
The vast impact of this donation is seen if you frame it in dollars:
- $300,000.00 to airlift the cargo to Poland
- $22,000,00-$30,000.00 for 11 trucks from KY to ST, NY.
- $8,000,000.00+ – OVER EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS in the cargo of medicines
- Unknown amount in donated transportation from Poland into at least TEN medical centers in Ukraine that are in desperate need of these commodities!
- Unknown amount in donated military security escort to all locations.
BUT even greater is the impact when framed in humanitarian need. Ukraine’s medicines were all imported from Russia. When Russia invaded all access to medicines was blocked. The hospitals are running out of even the most basic meds. Now here is the immediate delivery of meds that will save lives, lessen suffering, assist healing and comfort families! AMAZING is a term that does not come close to describing this! My favorite verse is applicable:
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21)
More from churches of Christ in AZ!
We received this message from our dear brother Glenn Mabley. Prayers are answered again…look at what the Churches of Christ in AZ have done!
Update on the 5-gallon buckets! Spoke with the manager at one of the Home Depots about the bucket campaign for Ukraine. I will not mention the manager’s name until I receive a go/no go; but he is willing to donate a pallet of buckets (500) per pallet, and if he gets an OK from corporate, will make this a valley wide initiative and seek to have each of the 10 Home Depot locations donate a pallet each. SO, if all goes well we could soon be in receipt of 5,000 buckets and lids for this humanitarian project. If that happens, I am trying to contact local news outlets and see if we can get this initiative some “air time.” If successful, we can offer the buckets and lids free of charge and become a collection point for the valley.
Glenn Mabley
Prayers appreciated that all goes well.
Glenn’s update later in the day…
Good afternoon/evening . Quick update from today’s activities. First, as you are aware, I met with the store manager at the Superstition Springs Home Depot. Although he was unable to get the ‘green light’ for a valley-wide commitment, he was able to donate a pallet of cans (300 vs 500) and assured me that the other 9 locations would probably follow suit. I will begin those contacts tomorrow morning. Also speaking with Keith, the elders at Alma School have agreed to work with Sun Valley in the humane endeavor. Hopefully, Mesa and other churches in the area will get involved.
Glenn Mabley
Have attached a couple of pictures of the pallet being loaded from team members at Home Depot (was approached by 5 employees and all expressed their gratitude for our involvement in this effort).
More from the Lord’s Church in Wroclaw, Poland
After worshipping with the brethren on Sunday, I received gracious notes from two of the three men who take turns preaching and teaching in the congregation. There is not one preacher here, but the opportunity is shared between three faithful brothers:
Dear John, thank you so much for coming to us yesterday. Wrocław is fourth largest city in Poland and not the second, if we order by size of population. To be precise three preachers have been serving our congregation in Wrocław during last half year: Szczepan, Robert from another city speaking using Skype and me. From this group we all have best support from our God in heaven.
Marek Krzywdziński
I will pray for you and your family and the service you offer. Praying for even our enemies is our duty, however it is not so easy during the real and the spiritual war happening at once.
Thank you, John, it was very nice to meet you and spend this time together praising the God. Even during this sad war time, Lord gives us opportunity to meet and better understand other people concerns. Now I can see how God can move bad things into good.
Szczepan
Thank you for possibility to downloading the books that will help us to better understand the Bible and improve its teaching. I hope God will change tears of oppressed people into smiles, and will use us with that. I hope also He will help us to make good decisions which are often not easy and can affect other peoples’ lives. All the best,
More encouraging emails from brethren in U.S.
North Jackson Church of Christ:
Hello II & III Johns, just wanted to pass on some good news. North Jackson is sending a very large check for the Ukraine refugee containers/expenses. A check will be in the mail, so just wanted to let you know to be looking for it.
Howell Ferguson
God bless the people of Ukraine who are having to go through all this senseless tragedy. We pray it will be over soon.
One more email to share
In response to our communication with another organization I received this encouraging note:
“Hello, would we be able to airlift 20 pallets of food through AirLink from Canada to Ukraine. They are ready to go now. LifeLine rice protein meals to donate. Blessings, Mary”
And I JUST HAVE TO ADD…all of our scheduling, collections, delivery, on-going validated distributions and full-speed actions are reality while the USA DOS/DoD/USAID are still meeting to discuss what they will buy with your tax dollars and eventually ship into Ukraine! The US government has not provided EVEN A CRUMB for the humanitarian crisis!
Let me end with an anecdote from yesterday…working with translators is always a memorable event. It is a learning experience for both parties involved. At a supper meal we were discussing various translation issues. One brought up that it was confusing to hear the word “maneuver” and often got it confused with the word “manure.” A discussion ensued as to what exactly “manure” was (appropriate dinner table talk topic). I finally hit upon an explanation that seemed to communicate the difference between the words. I said you must always “maneuver” around the “manure.”
Continue to send the prayers for those over here and for me as I travel.
John L. Kachelman, Jr
(Wroclaw, Poland)
You must be logged in to post a comment.