ORANGEVALE, Calif. — At Spring of Life Church In Orangevale, Senior Pastor Vadim Dashkevych, along with another pastor and two additional staff members, couldn't continue to watch chaos and terror affect millions of people in their home country, including their own family members, and only pray, raise funds and hold church services.
"Yesterday, around 12 o'clock, we've been talking to buy (plane) tickets, so we got the tickets," Dashkevych said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the group made a sudden decision to fly to the Poland-Ukraine border and stay there for at least five days. It would let them physically help thousands of Ukrainian refugees that have escaped war and chaos. The decision came less than a week after the church announced they were preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees.
"We don't just want to help here, but we want to help any country, any border, any place where Ukrainians right now have problems. We want to help them over there," said Erik Latkovskiy, secretary at Spring of Life Church.
By Wednesday, the crew loaded up several suitcases and boxes full of medicine along with walkie talkies and other items into the back of a van, and drove off to the San Francisco International Airport for a 20-hour journey to Poland. The group also hopes to make their way into Ukraine, if possible, but says they'll assess the situation once they arrive.
"First, medical supplies, second thing is support our people, the third thing is financial support and the fourth thing is to take a look at what's going on and how we can be helpful there," Dashkevych said.
Dashkevych and Latkovskiy both say they're looking forward to helping as many Ukrainian refugees as they possibly can and aren't worried about their own safety. Instead, they say they're relying on faith in God and are focused on their mission.
"We're going with God — God will protect us," Latkovskiy said. "I'm really happy and glad that our church, and me personally as the Senior Pastor, we can go there. We can be closer to our people and help them," Dashkevych said.
Spring of Life Church has also started a GoFundMe page to aid in the crisis in Ukraine. All donations will go towards food, shelter and medical supplies for Ukrainian refugees.
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