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Mariia Simian, from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is living through war for a second time. Just three years old when World War II tore across Europe in the 1940s, she says the memories haunt her.

“I remember everything,” she says. “I often remember. My mother hid our whole family from this horror wherever she could – in the basement, in fields behind the house – because the Nazis were looking for Roma.”

2022 was a full year for Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR). The highest profile event is the ongoing war in Ukraine.

In addition to the war, LDR worked with partners to respond to a wide range of other disasters, including Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, tornadoes, flooding, wildfires and gun violence. Internationally, some examples of responses in 2022 include monsoon flooding in south Asia, migration in Central America and refugees in the Middle East.

Lutheran Disaster Response shares this story of a children’s therapeutic camp for children from Ukraine who lost one or both of their parents in the war.

As Russian forces advanced on his town in Ukraine’s heavily contested Donbass region, a group of friends helped to save Igor Gusev’s life.

Born with cerebral palsy, Igor has lived independently with some limited support.As bombing and violence approached his home, Igor’s friends packed him and just a bit of luggage into a car and headed west.

When war came to Ukraine and desperate people began streaming across the international borders in the frigid days of late winter and early spring, the Rev. Miroslav Mató knew he and the members of his parish would be called upon to help.

Located in Gerlachov, a small village in Slovakia about 200 miles from the Ukrainian border, Rev. Mató and his wife, Rev. Jana Matóva, prepared to offer refuge.

As of Mar. 23, over 3.5 million people are estimated to have left Ukraine, most of which are women and children. The refugees are primarily fleeing to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. According to UNHCR, another 2 million people are displaced within Ukraine.

Lutheran Disaster Response has committed over $2 million to companion churches and ecumenical partners that are accompanying refugees and other impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.