APOPKA, Fla. – Leaders with an Apopka church are in Poland offering prayers and meals to Ukrainians as the crisis continues to escalate.
Executive Pastor Todd Lamphere with City of Destiny Church spoke to News 6 from Warsaw, Poland. He spent the last several days on the ground meeting with Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing their country.
[TRENDING: Kohl’s says it’s no longer a department store | Can a Florida trooper pull you over ANYWHERE? | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]
“You see the best of humanity and you see the results of the worst of humanity,” Lamphere said. “You see the hurt on the Ukrainian people. You see the hopelessness on some of them.”
Lamphere visited the Ukraine-Poland border Tuesday night. He described the scene as heartbreaking as he saw mostly women, children, and the elderly leave everything they own behind to seek safety.
“The sacrifice that these people have made to cross the border is just incredible,” he said.
But among the agony, Lamphere said he sees the best. He was one of the friendly faces on the other side of the border, greeting refugees and praying with families as he tried to provide them comfort.
“It’s about being dispensers of hope and that’s what we want to be, dispensers of hope,” Lamphere said.
The church is bringing the people of Ukraine hope. On Saturday, nearly 2,000 volunteers packed 1 million meals to send to Ukraine. The boxes were loaded up into trucks and shipped overseas. Lamphere said the food should arrive Thursday night.
He’s spending the days leading up to the delivery working with churches and faith-based organizations in Ukraine to get the food to those who need it the most.
“It’s life giving for them. This isn’t comfort food, it’s literally they can’t get anything,” he said.
Lamphere adds the church wanted to do more than pray for Ukraine, so they’re taking action.
“When you’re feeding someone in need, it’s like you’re feeding Jesus. That’s really the motivation right here is to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” Lamphere said.
Lamphere is set to return to Central Florida at the end of the week. He said they’re making plans to go to Romania to help Ukrainian refugees at the border. Lamphere adds churches from across the country are reaching out to City of Destiny to learn how they can pack meals for Ukraine.