More than 250 members of his congregation joined the cause, helping prepare packages for overseas shipment.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, a central Ohio pastor has quit his job, mobilized hundreds of volunteers and sent hundreds of shipments of critical supplies overseas — and he has no intention of stopping.
Viktor Moskalyuk, associate pastor at Grace Evangelical Church, has been shipping food, clothing, hygiene products and medical supplies to Ukraine since the first day of the war. Through his initiative, Gift of Grace Aid, he has now completed 341 shipments to the war-torn country.
“It’s unimaginable… every single day people are dying, every single day,” Moskalyuk said.
The effort began when a local business donated warehouse space, giving Moskalyuk the infrastructure he needed to launch the project.Â
From there, donations poured in from companies including Amazon and various medical suppliers. More than 250 members of his congregation joined the cause, helping prepare packages for overseas shipment.
As the operation grew, Moskalyuk made the decision to leave his job entirely in order to dedicate himself full-time to the mission.
“We understand that we need to do something more than just praying. We need to save lives,” he said.
Moskalyuk has witnessed the devastation firsthand through his own visits to the country, as well as videos and images sent back by volunteers on the ground in Ukraine. In one account, he described a video showing volunteers delivering bread to residents outside an apartment complex still burning after a rocket strike.
“People didn’t have no bread, no food and our volunteer’s delivering bread. And as you can see people just running to get the food because this is life and death,” Moskalyuk said.
Those images, he said, are precisely what drive him to keep going. Despite the scale of the conflict and the limitations of what one person can do, Moskalyuk remains firm in his belief that individual action matters.
“Together we can make a difference more than all the politicians put together,” he said.
His message to others who feel moved by suffering anywhere in the world is direct: “Every single person can make a difference so any time you see someone suffering… do not feel bad for them. Do something about it.”
For more information if you’d like to join the effort to help: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555897763769#