What began as a Bowling Green church’s effort to evacuate 30 people from Ukrainian war zones has grown into helping bus loads of people and delivering humanitarian supplies.

The Ukraine Relief Fund donation project at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church was started by the senior pastor Rob Spicer and his wife Nika.

She is a clinical psychologist from Ukraine and has many ties there. The couple also lived and worked there for two years. Her parents still live in the city of Uzhhorod, a safe area on the western edge of the country.

After the Russian invasion, they quickly raised $10,000 to assist her brother, Vadym, in helping his employees and their families escape the fighting in Ukraine. Vadym was lucky to be on vacation when the war escalation started and his family didn’t return.

“I think a lot of people are feeling helpless and a state of shock, but wanting to donate, to help somehow. There are a lot of organizations out there that are very broad. This is a way to help individual people, because they are people my brother knows. As a Christian I think it’s a tangible way to know God’s presence in a crisis,” Nika said.

The initial seven families with children have now made it safely to western Ukraine. Some have elected to remain in Kyiv, the largest city and capital.

“It’s amazing to see the grassroots efforts of people coming together as a town and trying to help,” Nika said.

Donations are now over $22,000.

The additional money is expected to fund five bus trips, as well as food for the evacuees.

They are securing charter buses that can hold 160 people. It’s more efficient and a faster method of getting people to safety. The large public buses are given a police escort, which reduces what would be a three-day trip to a single day.

The buses also return full of humanitarian aid, mostly food and medical supplies.

“So we will support the buses, because more people are interested in donating and these organizations are supporting these routes to safety,” Nika said.

Other forms of travel are more perilous.

One of Vadym’s employees, a mother with three young children, escaped the bombing in Irpin. It took them two days to walk the 29 miles to Kyiv.

Another young woman, Marina, was able to escape from Vorzel and walk 38 miles to Kyiv. She told Vadym that whenever she saw a Russian tank or soldiers, she’d drop to the ground and pretend she was a corpse. Some soldiers did take her wallet and her phone, but let her live. She now risks her life delivering food to people trapped in the villages outside Kyiv.

“Russians, they understate our strength … our personality; our people are much more fighting and resilience and courageous,” Nika said. “The main difference between Ukraine and Russia is political. When the Russians tried to give us a puppet president in 2014, we had a revolution. We have been at war since 2014, when young men died on the streets of Kyiv. We are fighting for freedom against communism.”

Most who stay in the east are remaining in Kyiv, primarily in bomb shelters and basements, as the Russians are regularly shelling the city.

The evacuees are mostly women with children. Most men aged 18 to 60 are required to stay for military service, and their efforts are much more successful than anyone expected.

For more information, visit stmarksbg.org.