Ukraine Response in Romania

In the spring of 2022, when the war in Ukraine began, i58 sent four volunteers to Northern Romania to assess the need and seek God’s direction on if and how i58 should be involved.

God connected the team with Fight For Freedom, an organization initially focused on rehabilitation for ex-convicts. When the war began, FFF pivoted and started putting energy and resources into food distribution in Ukraine and using its center to house refugees from Ukraine. Since February, i58 has collaborated closely with our Romanian partners by providing long- and short-term volunteers to help with logistics and distributions.

Volunteers distribute bags of food to internally displaced peoples in Ukrainian cities three days per week, handing out 20 tons of food weekly. Our team, along with local churches and youth groups, are in the warehouse in Romania the day before distributions, preparing for the following day.

On distribution days, many hours are spent on the road: driving an hour from the warehouse in Romania to the Ukrainian border, through customs, and another hour to the distribution site. The distribution takes 1-1.5 hours, and then the drive back begins.

On the days team members aren’t distributing food, they’re doing projects around the Freedom Center, the refugee community center operated by Fight for Freedom in Romania. Currently, there are several Ukrainian orphanages staying at the center until it's safe to go back home.

This provides a lot of logistical work– finding housing, construction projects to get the rooms ready, and keeping up with maintenance.