May 4, 2015
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow and All Russia and His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, local clergyman and laity collected and sent over 7 tons of goods, medicine and food to the residents of Southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, April 29, 2015.
His Grace Bishop John of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, and His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan,Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, Protopriest Serafim Gan, Chancellor of the Synod of Bishops, Hegumen Nikodim (Balyasnikov) of Saint Nicholas Cathedral in New York, and Ivan Baldychev, one of the active organizers of the New York-area collection, participated in accompanying the shipment of aid through Aero Deluxe Shipping Incorporated in Brooklyn NY. Pavel Kalinovsky, president of the firm, offered the free use of shipping containers and warehousing throughout the period of the collection of humanitarian aid. The peaceful residents of Ukraine will receive these goods through the Department of External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, as well as the philanthropic international mission known as “Mercy Without Borders” in Kiev.
