Update 3/25/26—Family Buckets Packed!

Featured image and above: The Dalraida bucket brigade met after evening services and packed 150 buckets in less than an hour to send to Ukraine!

News from Gif…

“Hello there! Well, I can give some positive news today—I’m able to drink coffee for the first time in over a month! I’m just about back to normal. In total, I lost 23 pounds since about February 15, so who needs Ozempic? My way is much faster. I’ll try not to gain it all back in the next week with the amount of steak and ice cream I’m planning to eat.”

Please Note: Gif’s suffering will be GREATLY relieved with a bag of peanut-butter M&Ms! NOT the peanut M&Ms but the PEANUT-BUTTER M&Ms!

The Bucket Plea!

We asked brethren to help us collect and stuff Family Buckets. This is an activity that really helps the Church in Ukraine in multiple ways.

We have received wonderful cooperation from congregations in the area who brought buckets to the Dalraida Church building. I hesitate to call out specific ones for fear of leaving others out but I do want to give a few shout-outs: the Prattville congregation (Prattville, AL) brought a huge supply of commodities that really helped (Jared brought these in December); the University congregation (Montgomery, AL) is prized for bringing 60+ filled buckets and David Fletcher gave an excited report on how the University youth group and University student groups did much to spur the wonderful number of buckets; the Elmore County (AL) congregation was a great encouragement in bringing filled buckets, extra supplies, and donations; and the Lay Lake (Columbiana, AL) congregation responded with eagerness to assist. They sent this note to Doug Schofield in response to our thanking them for their partnership in this effort:

Thank you, Doug! This letter will be read to the congregation. We are so small we didn’t do as many as we would have liked. We appreciate the letter, it will be a “very needed” encouragement for us to do more and realize our efforts, no matter how small, can help make a difference for someone in need! Our thoughts and prayers will be with John as he travels back to Ukraine in April. Praying for a very successful & fruitful trip in the Lord’s service.

Wendell & Frieda Parrish (Lay Lake Church of Christ, Columbiana, AL)

We have previously mentioned those congregations in KY, VA, and other states that sent funds to help accomplish this project. Several congregations are still involved in collecting and packing buckets that we will send in another container in the coming weeks.

The response has been wonderful! It is so wonderful to be part of God’s Church and be able to work together with so many brethren…THANK YOU!

And again, I want to give a special word of gratitude to many who receive this newsletter who sent funds. They were unable to bring buckets but they wanted to participate and sent funds that were used to bulk purchase items.

The purchased and donated items were collected and a “bucket packing party” occurred at Dalraida last Sunday evening after evening services! We stuffed 150 buckets on one night and then another 50 buckets last night with some of the remaining items! It was an amazing outpouring of support and work together! See more pics in the slideshow at the end of the post. Thank you Dalraida family for pitching in and working hard for this important effort.

Container sent to Odesa…

Received the following note about a container that was sent to Odessa/Mariupol and was able to help those in need of rehab equipment.

Today, the Charitable Organization “Charitable Foundation for Development and Assistance International Horizons” provided humanitarian aid for the NGO “Tenth of April.” Our foundation was asked to help people in need of rehabilitation aids. The organization “Tenth of April” is actively engaged in supporting such people. We donated wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, as well as other medical and necessary materials that will help people in everyday life and during rehabilitation.

We have the opportunity to provide such assistance thanks to the support of our partners — John Kachelman, the President of Global Missions of Tennessee (Columbia, TN, USA) and Life Resources International (Searcy, AR, USA). He directs Churches of Christ Ukraine Missions. We also thank the Mariupol City Council. We are sincerely grateful to our partners for their trust and support, because thanks to joint efforts we can help those who need it most.