Strathmore local does mission work in Ukraine

Time Contributor

 

The Mission field can be found in our backyard as well as overseas. The call to missions is a great need around the world globally and when “called” you can’t help but answer, “I will go”.

Theo Timmer, owner of Curbrelan Homes, went to the Ukraine with a team of eight men from Centre Street Church in Calgary for 15 days this past August. This was not Timmer’s first trip but instead was his sixth “call” to help those in need in the Ukraine.

“People have asked me why I do this volunteer work, I have done about 20 of these trips now over the last 15 years. In Canada we have a social service network. In the Ukraine, it is the Church that is their social network,” said Timmer.

“The local government does not worry about the lower class of people, unless you pay a bribe. If you are lucky to work you might make maybe between $100 to $200 a month in the city. In the country you are lucky if you can make half of that, so you cannot afford to pay a bribe. Many barely have enough money to live on. 

“For some of these people it is just part of daily life in the Ukraine. So I think if you are healthy and have the means to do this kind of work and care about people, I think you should do this stuff. It also reminds me how good we have it here even while we complain.”

This past trip Timmer worked for 10 days in Lutsk on a church project that involved working with the handicapped, homeless and youth as well as a rehab centre for men in the area. The missions group fixed up buildings in the area by making them handicap accessible as well as fixing a gym that was being used by the children. The Church sits in between Old Russian apartment buildings and there is no green space for the kids to play on so the gym is well used.

Their next adventure took the group to the Carpathian Mountains where they did manual labour for some of the locals, including cutting firewood for a 90-year-old woman and stacking it for her use in the winter months. 

Gas furnaces don’t exist there, one member of the team stated, “it looks like third world country here.”

The Missions group stayed at a local Kids Centre that was built with monies donated from Hart in Calgary [a non-profit organization that works in the Ukraine].

Sadly, the country crumbles down around those less fortunate without the means to move ahead in life. One couple, Timmer recalls, had a premature newborn that the hospital said to take home if they couldn’t afford the 300rh [equivalent to $40] and Medicare is supposed to be free. The operation Hart heard about the incident and commissioned Timmer’s group to go and help the couple fix their house.

When asked why Timmer [and others] do this kind of volunteer work he replied, “maybe it can cause us to think this upcoming Christmas season of those less fortunate in our own backyards.”