How Some Minnesotans Support A Ukranian Nonprofit Helping Orphans

MINNESOTA/UKRAINE — A nonprofit ministry in Ukraine has had its world turned upside-down after Russia invaded the country, but it is still receiving a lot of support through the turmoil, including from its longtime board members in Minnesota.

Max Festisov and his wife Amanda lead the True Hope Ministry, which helps orphans and also teens who are aging out of the orphan system and need stability.

“The sirens are reminding us that this is real,” he said.

He talked with us about what life was like just over a month ago before Ukraine’s European neighbor started attacking.

“Life back then was completely different,” Max Festisov said. “We ministered to orphans, that was focus for the ministry, True Hope Ministry, we minister to orphans of all ages, we were able to go to different facilities, boarding schools, rehab centers for kids, and baby hospitals where the babies were abandoned, we could go and visit, we could go and care for them, we could go and help. Everybody had jobs, it was a completely different life. Stores had groceries back then.”

The ministry is currently caring for 150 orphans, and housing 87.

For now, the attacks have been kept at bay in the city of Krivoy Rog, where the organization is located, thanks to the Ukranian military.

The nonprofit is also renting apartments for Ukranians who are pouring in from the other side of the country.

“Even though we are in a safe or quiet more or less place in the city, we still have the refugees that are coming in that are in fear and panic, that’s very contagious,” Festisov said. “That’s hard to ignore. Because they’ve been coming from places of real battle and explosions.”

Several thousand miles away, a community of Minnesotans watched helplessly as the war began.

“We were all shocked just checking in trying to stay connected and it’s highly personal for us,” Mary Hedliund, a board member for True Hope Ukraine from Big Lake, MN, said.  “We know all the people we know those kids we have relationships with so many people there.”

Hedlund has been involved since the early days, watching Max, and the orphans he’s helped over the years, grow up.

“I met Max when he was 14,” she said. “We’ve been going there since 2002, and then in 2009 him and a group of us incorporated True Hope here in America, and then we applied for the 501(c)(3)  status, and so there’s six of us on the board, and we all travel to Ukraine or did travel to Ukraine a few times a year and very involved with the ministry over there.”

As the unpredictability of the war drags on, Hedlund says she’s leaned on her faith in God, watching as words spreads about the organization, causing donations to pour in.

“Churches and different people are contacting us daily asking how they can help, and so the help has just been coming in exponentially, we’re just shocked at the generosity of Minnesotans,” she said.

Faith, hope, and knowing that there’s a group of Minnesotans who have their back halfway across the world, helps Max and Amanda to continue their life’s work of helping orphans and now refugees who need support.

“They have me and the team that serves, they feel secure, they feel safe, because we’re still there,” Festisov said.

If you would like to learn more about True Hope Ukraine or donate, click here.