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Summit Missions helping Ukraine



A family that received food from Summit Missions partners is pictured above.

Brock Kreitzburg is executive director of Summit Missions, based in Green.

GREEN — A faith-based nonprofit mission headquartered in Green is providing aid to Ukrainians impacted by the conflict in their country.
Organization officials stated Summit Missions International has partnered with churches and Christian leaders to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people dwelling in Europe’s poorest regions since 1994. When the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine began to unfold after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion, Summit Missions responded by providing help and hope to refugees fleeing the country, thanks to help from residents and churches that began contributing financially to that effort.
“Individuals have been very generous,” said Summit Missions Executive Director Brock Kreitzburg. “It is unusual for there to be an organization right in the Uniontown/Green area responding to a big, international disaster, but we are making an impact.”
Summit Missions was in a position to provide “real impact where it is needed most,” as the organization has been connected with church pastors in the region for almost 30 years, he added.
“The Ukrainian people are scared and uncertain about their future,” said Kreitzburg. “They are desperately seeking safe shelter for their families in western Ukraine and nearby countries, and we’re working with ministry partners on the ground to do all we can for these families.”
Kreitzburg, a University of Toledo football player and former bobsledder for the U.S. Olympics team, spent years overseeing humanitarian efforts overseas, working most recently as the International Disaster Response Unit director for Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian charity. A Springfield Township native, he returned to Ohio about one-and-a-half years ago to assume his role at Summit Missions. He currently resides in Hartville.
Kreitzburg said his years with Samaritan’s Purse, which included serving as its country director in Uganda and a program manager providing food security in Sudan, prepared him to manage Summit Missions’ response to the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis, which includes telling people “about God’s love for them through Jesus Christ.”
“Our response to what is happening in Ukraine is our mission playing out,” he said.
Kreitzburg said Summit Missions’ ministry partners are meeting refugees at the border of Moldova with food, water and other essential supplies and transporting them to available housing in Chisinau, Moldova’s capital city. He added Summit Missions’ partners are welcoming about 2,000 Ukrainians a week at each refugee center.
Additionally, Summit Missions is coordinating with churches in Ukraine to provide food and other provisions to those displaced by the war in the country, “also offering hope through the message of the Gospel,” Kreitzburg said.
“Through one of our church partners, we are trucking food into Ukraine,” he said. “We have gotten about 58,000 meals in at this point.”
Summit Missions also is working with ministry partners to shelter women and children at the Help the Children Community Center in Transnistria. Most of the Ukrainian men ages 18 to 60 have had to stay in the country, Kreitzburg added.
“The women and children are given the opportunity to rest and eat and figure out where they are going next,” he said. “Some continue to go west and wait until they can get back into Ukraine.”
Once the need for food, water and shelter stabilizes and fighting reduces, Summit Missions will seek to assist with resettling people into a new country or rebuilding their homes in Ukraine, said Kreitzburg.
“There still are a lot of unknowns. It is hard to say what the future will look like,” he said. “We are praying for peace.”
Kreitzburg said financial contributions to support Summit Missions are 100 percent tax-deductible, with donations used to provide for the essential needs of the Ukrainian refugees. To make a contribution, visit www.summitmissions.org.
“It has been about [eight] weeks since the war began,” said Kreitzburg. “The need is going to continue, and we are going to respond as long as there is a need.”

Shown above is one family being helped by Summit Missions partners at the border of Moldova. Photos courtesy of Summit Missions