St. Mary's Ukrainian Orthodox Church collected supplies for war refugees

LORAIN — Looking at a photo of a bombed apartment complex, the center of the buildings turned to rubble, V Rev. Dmitri Belenki doesn't see an immediate end to the need in Ukraine. "This is the face of the war," the pastor of St. Mary's Ukrainian Orthodox Church said, while scrolling through news sites' photos of the devastation wrought to Kyiv and other cities — the apartment complex, and a school all but incinerated, children with special needs sheltering in a basement somewhere. But then there are things that bring a smile to his face: an elderly woman threatening Russian soldiers to come and that she'll face them with a small ax, a sweeping rally of support in the Czech Republic, a group of Belarusians and Ukrainians in Minnesota gathering together. He notes in Belarus two army divisions refused to fight on Russia's behalf — roughly 8,000 to 10,000 men all facing prison time for disobeying the direct order. "The situation, for that environment, is a very big, big, big deal," he said. Belenki, and others with ties to Ukraine in the area, have tirelessly watched the invasion unfold over the past seven days. He's watched as men originally from Ukraine working abroad are pouring back into the Eastern European country from Portugal, Italy and elsewhere. "When it started eight years ago, I stopped some guys coming from here, and I stopped some this time from going," he said. "I was taken by how such a number … (of) guys leaving their livelihoods and they smile like, 'Sorry, we have no time to talk. It's the reason why we're here, there is no time.' … It's very impressive." Every 50 or 100 years, Ukraine has a war because of Russia, he said. There is no generation of "normal," as the ripple effect of fathers and grandfathers lost to the conflict never goes away. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin has no idea what he's up against. "Looking at myself, I didn't see one of my grandfathers because he was in the gulag," he said. "One side of my family all did time in gulags. So there is not much love to begin with. … So when you do stupid things like that, there's always consequences, (it's) always going to affect generations." But as the crisis drags on and women and children pour across the border into Poland, he said there's no way they will avoid refugees — he is expecting some to come to Northeast Ohio. St. Mary's in Lorain joined a larger effort in Northeast Ohio to collect supplies for those displaced. At the church on Thursday donations began pouring in, thanks to flyers put up around the area and a Facebook post on the church's social media. Items collected in Lorain will be combined with others collected this weekend will be added to "Stuff the Church Truck Help Ukraine," organized by The New Moon in Lakewood and Pokrova Ukrainian Catholic Church in Parma, church board member Tatiana Panas said. Panas, of Sandusky, said they knew not everyone in the area who wanted to donate would be able to make the drive up to Lakewood on Saturday, so they wanted to give them a more local place to drop items off at. "We can spread the word from Lorain to Sandusky," she said. While monetary donations are the fastest way to help, she said some people feel good taking physical items up to donate. She and her husband, Russ, filled their dining room in Sandusky with donations and plan to add them to the larger cache on Saturday. The outpouring of her neighbors in Erie County, and those around the church in Lorain, brought tears to her eyes. "This is resonating with people," she said. While physical donations are on hold, monetary donations are still being accepted. Checks can be made to St. Mary's, with "humanitarian relief" or "Ukraine relief" in the memo line, Belenki said. They can also be made online at goarch.org/ukraine. "It's something that we have to organize more, more and more because it's not going to go anywhere," Belenki said. "It's something that's going to be a new normal for us." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.