Simon attended a meeting of Witney Church & Community Groups on 15th March 2022 to discuss the town response to the Ukraine crisis. Below are a number of practical ways of supporting the people of Ukraine at this time:
All aid agencies are reporting a great financial need at this time. We will not be taking a separate collection at Church but rather are encouraging people to give directly to the Disasters Emergency Committee (which includes Christian Aid, Tearfund, and World Vision), or the individual charities https://www.dec.org.uk/
If you are considering offering your home to support a Ukrainian family there are two websites that you can register with the first is the governments website which was launched yesterday https://homesforukraine.campaign.gov.uk/
The church is also registered with the newly formed Sanctuary Foundation https://www.sanctuaryfoundation.org.uk/ which was launched at the weekend by Krish Kandiah and featured on the BBC news yesterday morning (the video is on their website)
There is an Amazon wishlist for items needed for refugee families: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/333FVEMF7TEH4
Most importantly we can all pray and there are a number of resources available including these from 24-7 Prayer https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/ukraineprayer/ and these from the World Prayer Centre https://worldprayer.org.uk/resources/europe-prays-together/
At the moment WODC have not been asked to take any refugees and it is still very much an unfolding situation. When we supported Syrian Refugees moving to Witney, we worked closely with other partners including Asylum Welcome and will seek to do so again.
In terms of the wider church response, we are talking with other church leaders in the town. Jason Cooke from the Methodist Church has told me that if we do receive a community of Ukrainians in Witney, then they intend to make space in the Methodist buildings for them to gather at certain times.
Finally if you would be interested in helping to coordinate any response that we make as a church, please do email Simon.
May we continue to be gentle with ourselves, and each other and experience the gentleness of God in these challenging times.