Partner Church Update, Ukraine Aid Continues

January 2023

Rev. Claire received some personal news from Rev. Jozsef of our Partner Church in Transylvania, followed by information about humanitarian efforts in Ukraine:

from Rev. Jozsef:

The leadership of our congregation and I were delighted to remember the occasion a year ago when you blessed the Transylvanian table at Follen.  After the pandemic situation, the shadow of the war in Ukraine was cast on our lives. The reception and relief of refugees, the huge inflation of food and fuel, have confronted us with many tasks and difficulties.

Nevertheless, we try to live our individual and community lives as fully as possible. Our children are now grown up: my son Arthur is finishing university in cultural tourism, my son Zalán is a second year student in mechatronics at a technical university, and my daughter Izabella is a cook’s assistant in a Japanese restaurant. My wife Csilla is still the president of the National Association of Unitarian Women, where she has a wide range of responsibilities.

In the past year, the congregation has had the major task of repairing the exterior of the church, for which we received a government grant, because this year our church will be 300 years old and we would like to hold a thanksgiving service in September.

I enclose the New Year’s greetings from the Providence Charity Organization and the Hungarian Unitarian Church and a report on the recent relief shipment.

I gratefully acknowledge the help of the Follen congregation and church members, which has made it possible to better and more effectively help people in need!

Love and hugs,
Jozsef

 

Dear sisters and brothers in faith,
On behalf of the Hungarian Unitarian Church and its Charity Organization, Providence, we would like to express our gratitude for your support of our humanitarian efforts for Ukrainian refugees and for those in need in Ukraine. The English version of our activity report in the last few months will be sent to you in January 2023. In the meantime, we would like to inform you that at Christmas the Hungarian Unitarian Church and Providence Charity Organization’s sixth aid shipment to southern Ukraine reached its destination. The shipment, valued at 6,500 USD, includes four generators, solar headlights, candles, vitamins and medicines, folding beds, clothes, and footwear. We would like to thank our volunteers who dedicated their Christmas holidays delivering the shipment from Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca to aid organizations and schools in Odesa: Vladimir Skalski and his wife Yulia, refugees hosted by us in Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca since the beginning of the war, and Olivér Kiss, journalist with the local daily newspaper. Olivér has also prepared a video report and a photo report, please see below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ALFGn_HcA

http://www.szabadsag.ro/-/harmincezer-lej-erteku-karacsonyi-segelyszallitmany-odesszaba

 

May God grant a more peaceful and happier New Year to all the people around the world!

Kovács István, bishop of the Hungarian Unitarian Church

Szabó László, president of Providence Charity Organization