During the summer of 2010, we had the opportunity to host several dozen children from surrounding villages to come to camp at Pine Branch Christian Camp. These children were some of the most at-risk children who are being monitored by the Department of Social Services. Our “county” is the last county before the Chernobyl zone and the hopelessness and despair here is indescribable. During some follow-up visits, after the summer of 2010, with children and their parents, we were shocked at the situations we found.
During those initial visits, we met a young boy named Sasha. His situation was tragic! He had been severely burned when his father put him on the wood burning stove to teach him a lesson. The boy suffered first degree burns on his legs and hands. Sasha was hospitalized for 10 days and his father jailed briefly. As a result, our ministry team kept close contact with the family and ministered to the children and mom in whatever way possible. Today, both the father and mother have jobs, the father no longer abuses the children and the children now respect him for changing his life.
In September of 2010, Jeremiah’s Hope began a new initiative called “The Sasha Project” in response to the situation we found Sasha living in. While the Department of Social Services is charged with watching after and providing for these children, they just don’t have the resources to do it. They do not even have a car or money for transportation to be able to travel out to the outlying villages to check on the well being of the children. “The Sasha Project” aims to help meet some of the basic needs of children in the Ivankiv region. Over 30 children were registered with our ministry during the first month. Since then, we have registered even more kids and today, we serve over 80 children on a twice a month basis. Each of these children live in home with alcoholism, neglect, abuse, abandonment or abject poverty.
Each week, our Jeremiah’s Hope ministry team goes out to visit the children, spending 15-30 minutes in each home. The children are divided into four "routes" and allows our ministry team to visit each child every two weeks. Our team makes reports to Social Services, as needed. Additionally, we provide families with simple food packages (bread, macaroni, rice, cream of wheat, cooking oil, butter, eggs, cheese, sausages, cabbage, carrots, onions, apples, oranges, juice and milk) to help meet the need of providing for these children. We also provide school supplies and other material needs like blankets and warm clothing for winter.
During those initial visits, we met a young boy named Sasha. His situation was tragic! He had been severely burned when his father put him on the wood burning stove to teach him a lesson. The boy suffered first degree burns on his legs and hands. Sasha was hospitalized for 10 days and his father jailed briefly. As a result, our ministry team kept close contact with the family and ministered to the children and mom in whatever way possible. Today, both the father and mother have jobs, the father no longer abuses the children and the children now respect him for changing his life.
In September of 2010, Jeremiah’s Hope began a new initiative called “The Sasha Project” in response to the situation we found Sasha living in. While the Department of Social Services is charged with watching after and providing for these children, they just don’t have the resources to do it. They do not even have a car or money for transportation to be able to travel out to the outlying villages to check on the well being of the children. “The Sasha Project” aims to help meet some of the basic needs of children in the Ivankiv region. Over 30 children were registered with our ministry during the first month. Since then, we have registered even more kids and today, we serve over 80 children on a twice a month basis. Each of these children live in home with alcoholism, neglect, abuse, abandonment or abject poverty.
Each week, our Jeremiah’s Hope ministry team goes out to visit the children, spending 15-30 minutes in each home. The children are divided into four "routes" and allows our ministry team to visit each child every two weeks. Our team makes reports to Social Services, as needed. Additionally, we provide families with simple food packages (bread, macaroni, rice, cream of wheat, cooking oil, butter, eggs, cheese, sausages, cabbage, carrots, onions, apples, oranges, juice and milk) to help meet the need of providing for these children. We also provide school supplies and other material needs like blankets and warm clothing for winter.
Take a moment to watch and see how God is transforming lives through this outreach effort...
If you would like to support one of these children, you can! Simply sign up to sponsor one of our Sasha Project kids by using the link below and we will contact you and provide you with a brief profile and photo of your sponsored child!