St Mary's Response to the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis

The first thing we can do as Christians is to pray for the situation in Ukraine, for an end to war, for those in power, for those whose lives have been devastated by the conflict and for those offering aid. On Sunday 3rd April we held an Evening of Prayer for Ukraine and shared some of the ways we plan to respond to the ongoing crisis. Click here to watch the service.

On this page you will find more detail about the ways in which we, at St Marys and Sale West, are practically responding. The situation is constantly evolving so we want to be able to be agile in how we offer our support.
 

Supporting the Hope Centre – Lublin, Poland

A member of our church family has been volunteering on the Polish/Ukraine border to support refugees fleeing the conflict. We have been stirred by the work of the Hope Centre, which is run by a network of local churches in Poland. They welcome refugees, give them a place of rest and sanctuary and help them continue their journey to an end destination. We are supporting them financially through our missions giving and we will continue to pray and support the work there however we can.


Supporting Community Integration

Trafford council are anticipating up to 1000 refugees arriving in the local area. This will put extra strain on local authorities capacity and resources. As a church we want to be able to listen to what needs they have and support where we can. We are helping to put together tailor made welcome boxes for arriving refugees and, in time, there will be other practical ways we can offer support (see ‘How can I help’ for more details’). If you'd like to donate items to the boxes you can find a list by clicking here.

We are also working with other local churches to provide spaces for Ukrainian refugees to gather together and provide spaces for worship and prayer in English or local languages.
 

Supporting Host Families

We recognise the generosity of heart from those who are able to open the homes to refugees and we want to wrap around host families and offer support where we can. Some practical ways we can help may include providing meals, offering to host a refugee family for a day to give the host family some time together on their own, helping support some of the administrative tasks such as helping a family register with a GP…. As the situation evolves so will the way we respond.
 

How can I help?

Here are a few ways you can help.

1. Fill out the survey – our response team will collect your responses and, as practical needs are made known to us, we will contact you to see if you can still offer support . To complete the survey please click here

2. Offer to be a ‘Temporary Host’ – Placements don’t always work out so new hosts need to be found. In the meantime temporary hosts are needed to prevent people being homeless. More details and sign up can be found by clicking here

3. Donate:

• To donate items to the welcome boxes, click here for a complete list of items needed. Donations can be left in the collection boxes in the church foyer.
• To make a monetary donation to the welcome boxes click here 
• To donate to the Hope Centre - There is a Polish bank account you can donate to or you could give directly to our 'GoFundMe' page set up by a member of our congregation.
• If you'd like these details contact  nathan.gregory@stmarysaom.org

As more things become known we will update you here on how you can help.