Bridge of hands, trucks and tradition

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This article was published 09/12/2023 (1026 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This December, Springstein-area farmer Dave Wiebe plans to deliver gifts in the enclosed four-metre-long trailer pulled by his black Dodge Ram pickup truck.

But it’s more than a holiday season gig. The grain farmer and dozens of volunteers, many from Springstein Mennonite Church, have been transporting free furniture and housewares to Ukrainian newcomers every other Saturday for the past year.

“Because we have trucks and trailers, we were needed to make the project go,” explains Wiebe of his involvement with Bridge of Hope Ukraine.

Founded by Springstein resident Mandy Kwasnica in the fall of 2022, a year after she adopted two children from Ukraine, the charity began as a response to equip the apartments of two newcomer Ukrainian families. She found donated furniture for them but needed a way to pick it up, store it and deliver it.

That’s where the folks at Springstein stepped in. After an initially offer to move furniture for the first two families with their pickup trucks, their role grew quickly, recalls Pastor Randy Hildebrand. Now about 30 congregants help 12 families on alternate Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., picking up or delivering furniture or showing newcomers what’s available.

“It made sense to jump on board,” he says of helping out Kwasnica, who lives next door to some church members.

“It got way bigger than we imagined.”

At first the organization stored extra furniture in a storage unit, but then Wiebe asked their denominational office for extra space.

“We moved into that facility and had a free store out of there,” says Wiebe of the basement board room at Mennonite Church Manitoba, located on the campus of Canadian Mennonite University at 600 Shaftesbury Blvd.

Recently, the project moved to a main floor warehouse space in the 3000 block of Portage Avenue, providing easier access to recipients and to volunteers moving furniture in and out of the building. Now much of the furniture is hauled using a rented cube truck, but Wiebe and a few others still offer their personal vehicles if needed.

Ukrainian newcomers contact the charity through the bilingual website bridgeofhopeukraine.com, state their needs and schedule an appointment to choose furniture, aided by volunteers who show them through the warehouse.

“They select all the items they need, no cost, no charge, and that day we deliver the furniture,” explains Kwasnica, who co-ordinates donations and online requests.

She says Springstein congregants make up a significant part of the volunteer roster for the organization, which is also supported by Rotary Club of Winnipeg-Charleswood. Dozens of families who received furniture have come back to help on Saturdays, offering their services as translators.

With about 30 people from Springstein Mennonite Church involved as drivers, movers or shopping assistants, the charity has energized the small congregation in unexpected ways, says Hildebrand.

They have made connections with Ukrainian newcomers, worked together on a project outside of their community and used their skills and resources for others, he says.

“You pick a lane. Ours is the capability of (lending) trucks and knowing how to pack things and move them,” he says of the congregation of about 60.

As the only church in the hamlet located about 20 kilometres west of Winnipeg, it offers its gym and kitchen facilities for sports, bingo and community dinners, says Hildebrand, pastor for the last seven years.

“Church isn’t just Sunday morning gathering and worshipping,” he says. “We need to ask how we can be neighbours with our community?”

When congregations ask themselves questions about purpose, they’re more likely to thrive, says Deacon Michelle Collins of Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

“Congregations that take the time to put in the work can adapt and be flexible and let go of what’s needed to let go of,” says Collins, who leads visioning workshops for Lutheran churches.

“We look at what our current resources and realities are, instead of the previous reality.”

For Wiebe, the answer to helping Ukrainians adapt to life in Manitoba lies in practicalities. He has a truck and a trailer and many newcomers don’t own cars, so sharing his vehicles just made sense.

“We’ve always been a very hands-on church and we jump in and help,” he says of his congregation.

“This is something we like doing.”

There’s also a personal connection, since the congregation was founded in the 1920s by Mennonites who moved to Canada from the Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.

“When they came to Canada, they were appreciative of people who helped them,” says Wiebe, whose grandparents were newcomers a century ago.

brenda.suderman@freepress.mb.ca

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