BY THE NUMBERS
6.8 Million+ Fleeing to other countries
3.6 Million to Poland | 989,357 to Romania 479,513 to Moldova | 461,164 to Slovakia 682,594 to Hungary
7.1 Million+ Internally displaced persons
Sources: OCHA June 3, 2022
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF RESPONSE
We have committed more than $10 million to respond to this crisis, and we will expand our response to reach more Ukrainians as we secure additional funding. We have deployed technical staff to support our relief operations, including program managers, a health advisor, and an advisor to lead our efforts to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse in Ukraine and for Ukrainian refugees.
Our response in Ukraine includes:
• Caring for Ukrainians who fled their homes. We are partnering with the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) to support six union-run centers that are being used for temporary housing. We’re helping more than 15,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) forced to flee heavy fighting in the eastern and southern parts of the country with no other means of support. We are also providing toys for children, food and essential supplies and equipment, like folding beds, pillows, heaters, laundry detergent, toilet paper, and person hygiene items. We are also channeling quilt and kit inventory to these facilities.
• Delivering medical supplies and equipment. We are supporting hospitals in Ukraine with supplies, including surgical and wound care kits, gauze, IV kits, oxygen masks, defibrillators, stretchers, and medicines, like insulin, morphine and medications for treating chronic illnesses.
• Identifying key gaps in the availability of health services. This assessment is informing our ongoing response in Ukraine, which will likely expand to include support for mental health services and psychosocial services and the treatment of communicable diseases.
• Expanding response efforts. Our team in Ukraine is assessing how and where we can expand response efforts in the coming weeks.
Our response in Poland includes:
• Providing emergency cash and vouchers for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. We’ve committed $2 million to
this effort in a combined program with Lutheran World Federation that will support an initial caseload of more than 1,300 refugee families for the next three months.
• Providing sexual exploitation and abuse protection services. We’re integrating protection services for refugee women and children into our cash programming and have established training and referral systems in Ostroda, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Bytom.
• Supporting the Evangelical-Augsburg Church of St. Martin in Krakow, which has established a hostel for Ukrainian women and children. We have provided essential supplies including milk, energy biscuits,
personal hygiene products and room partition panels.
• Shipping and distributing LWR Quilts and Care Kits in partnership with local organizations.
We have also committed funding to respond to the escalating global ripple effects of the war, which have decimated critical supply chains of commodities such as wheat, cooking oils and fertilizers. The effects are further escalating food crises being fueled by inflation and price hikes, climate related shocks and widespread conflict in many of the countries where we work. Our initial efforts will focus on the Sahel area of Africa, including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and will include both humanitarian interventions to address acute needs as well as longer term efforts to build resilience and stronger local markets.
We are grateful for the thousands of Lutherans across the United States whose care and generosity have made it possible for us to respond immediately. At this time, financial gifts are the number one need to assist refugees on the move.
Until your love reaches every neighbor.
