IFAK's Delivered to Ukraine: An Update

We know them as Immediate First Aid Kits, “IFAKs” for short. Dr. Ivan Rusyn tells us that other than ammunition and missiles, these are the number one request from soldiers and their commanders. Outreach Foundation donors, churches, and a partnership through Delta Airlines all came together to deliver 1,000 IFAKs to Ukraine during our April 2024 visit. This was just in time for the anticipated escalation of military activity this summer.

Each IFAK contains a set of chest seals for entry/exit wounds, a tourniquet, a trauma wound bandage, gauze, and an airway tube (shown below). All items are made in the United States and are considered exceptional in quality. Using one of these kits significantly improves a soldier’s survivability. Outreach Trustee Jill Gilbert of Columbus, GA, could not go to Ukraine with our team but was the point person for purchasing and assembling each kit.

Once assembled, Jill and her husband Dan carried the kits to the four people taking them as checked baggage on Delta Airlines to Warsaw, Poland. In Warsaw, our partner Ukraine Evangelical Theological Seminary (UETS), arranged for a truck to transport them directly to the seminary in Kyiv. From there, military chaplains received the IFAKs, delivering them to the front lines.

In a surprise lunch event, we were able to visit with soldiers and a nurse trainer (Katya), having the privilege of handing them these kits along with the neck gaiters that our team designed. Holding one of the kits in her hand and standing before the 30 soldiers gathered with us, she said, “These IFAKs are like warm oil over my battered spirit. These are going to save lives. Thank you!” Her words were met with applause.

Not surprisingly, this effort to supply IFAKs through UETS is reaping kingdom blessings. These kits (along with the 800 we brought last year) have been deployed through Protestant military chaplains. This act shows soldiers and their commanders that the church is more than a place for prayers. It is a body of action, committed to exhibiting Christ’s love no matter the cost. It is a body that stands with soldiers in this fight. No wonder the Ukrainian people are regarding the once-maligned evangelical church as a bona fide body of believers with integrity that people are turning to for the truth of the gospel.

We, along with our Ukrainian partners, want to say thank you to those of you who participated in this incredible opportunity to facilitate UETS’s call to holistic mission during the war. Dr. Rusyn has said it effectively many times. “How can we speak of holistic mission and how can we show God’s love without serving the real needs of our soldiers? It is impossible, so we must do this. But we can only do this because of you.”