With help from the Catholic community in Arnold and beyond, Ukrainian children orphaned by war now have day camps and new friends to look forward to.

A campaign by the Rev. Yaroslav Koval at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church sought donations to assist a youth group in his native country.

Donors turned out strong, raising more than $9,200 to assist the Emmanuel Youth Group of the Blessed Martyr Josaphat Kotsylovsky in Stryi, Ukraine. The city of 59,000 people is nestled beneath the Carpathian Mountains.

“War is the worst thing in the world,” Koval said. “These people lost everything. When they go to (Western Ukraine), we have our faith to share with them.”

Koval said nearly 3 million people from Eastern Ukraine have been displaced during the Russian invasion.

Money has helped to pay for ministry to refugees who attend day camp at Blessed Martyr.

“It helped us to do our mission and, thankfully, we can do everything we wanted for the children,” said the Rev. Mykhailo Hloviak, a Ukrainian pastor who became long-distance friends with Koval about a year ago.

“Today, the children are very happy.”

Hloviak uses Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to connect with children in his city. The teens of the youth group are helping to minister to 70 orphaned children at summer day camp and Sunday school.

They paint, dance and make beeswax candles from scratch. And they learn the Bible.

“Children play many interesting games, sing, dance bansi, learn to pray on a rope and have many exciting tasks,” said Hloviak, 32.

Donations from St. Vlad’s also helped pay for haircuts and clothes, and to purchase games such as Monopoly and Uno, soccer balls, jump ropes and other items to promote socialization.

“These things help the refugees to play with our kids,” Hloviak said. “We have made a lot of connections, and we saw they are happy by playing games. We saw their happy faces.”

A three-day excursion has been the highlight of summer, he said.

“All together, we went to Clear Mountain in Goshev, where we had the opportunity to hear a little about the monastery, its history and the miraculous icon. Later, the children had a bracelet-weaving workshop. It is an awesome vacation with God.”

Julie Martin, a St. Vlad parishioner, said she is thrilled that her church has taken up the global effort.

“It means so much to be able to unite with our fellow Ukrainian Catholics across the world to help children in need,” she said.

Hloviak sent his thanks to the American donors who made the activities possible.

He hopes to continue activities and Bible study on Sundays.

“Together, we pray for the children who are in occupation, abducted to Russia and who lost their parents and relatives in the war,” Hloviak said.

Koval said the children come to Hloviak with depression and trauma. Part of the summer camp is spent working through those feelings.

“The orphans go to the camp, and the kids and teens of the youth group teach them why they go to church. It rebuilds them,” Koval said. “The central part of this dialogue is our faith and in what we believe.

“We are distant from each other, 5,000 miles, but our faith can connect us.”

Hloviak said the program requires tenacity.

“The first time a lot of them come in, they were a little upset. They didn’t want to talk with us,” he said. “There was one child which wouldn’t talk at all. We decided we must help him learn to build trust, and he is happy now with a lot of new friends.

“We are all speaking very happily now.”

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