LHI’s founder and director Hayley Smith distributed aid to Ukrainian refugees in Lviv in December.
by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director
What a year 2022 was for Lifting Hands International! Thanks to you, our supporters and volunteers, we were able to provide more humanitarian aid to refugees and internally displaced people than ever before.
Here are some of the highlights:
The LHI Community Center, Serres, Greece
The team of community and visiting volunteers at the LHI Community Center, affectionately known as “the Field”, in Serres, Greece.
Our amazing team of visiting and community volunteers expanded the educational offerings at the LHI Community Center to include more German and English language classes, photography and art classes, and, most recently, computer classes. The Arts and Recreation program also grew thanks to an enthusiastic community volunteer who leveled up the children’s football (soccer) program, a community-run tea station and open mic musical afternoon, and a volleyball program on a court community members resourcefully built themselves.
A young boy enjoys the new pergola at the Child-Friendly Space built by ONE.
With all the activity happening at the LHI Community Center, we needed more room! Thanks to our donors and volunteers, including carpenters from Office for the New Earth (ONE), we built two new pergolas to accommodate arts and recreation and child-friendly programming.
Jordan program
One of the five classrooms Lifting Hands International helped build for Syrian refugee children in Jordan.
Kids and “kids” were the focus of our efforts in Jordan this year. We were able to distribute a record 800 milk goats to Syrian refugee families living in Jordan. We were also able to build 5 modular classrooms that expanded educational opportunities for 240 Syrian refugee children.
utah program
A team of volunteers at the LHI Aid Warehouse loaded a container of aid bound for Ukraine.
The team at the LHI Aid Warehouse in Utah was beyond busy this year! Generous supporters donated countless quilts, blankets, and hygiene and baby kits. Volunteers packed 31 containers full of aid bound for 11 countries and 6 shipments of aid for 5 shelters along the southern border of the United States. And that’s not all! Teams set up 227 apartments for refugees resettled in Utah.
ukraine Emergency response
Thanks to the work of our team on the ground in Moldova, LHI was able to open a playroom for Ukrainian refugee children sheltering in the dormitories at the Polytechnic Institute in Chisinau.
We asked for your help in supporting Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people, and you really came through! As winter descended upon Ukraine, you helped us purchase 211 generators and 200 gas stoves. Thanks to you, we were able to distribute 1,733 pairs of long underwear and 2,389 sleeping bags.
Your generosity was felt beyond Ukraine by ordinary Moldovans and the Ukrainian refugees they have welcomed into their communities. Through our small grants program, Lifting Hands International was able to help towns and organizations provide not only basic needs, but also psycho-social support to Ukrainians who’ve had to flee their homes.
Thank you!
Together, we’ve done so much, but there is still so much left to do. We hope you will continue to join us as we work to provide humanitarian aid and support to people all over the world!