Palmetto Christian ministry helps 94 Ukrainian children get to safe haven in Romania
A Palmetto-based Christian ministry has taken responsibility for the care of 94 Ukrainian refugee children who fled to Romania to escape the Russian invasion.
Dr. Marvin E. Lane, the 69-year-old founder of Generation Hope International, said the arrival of so many children, ranging in age from six months to 17, accompanied by six adult women, was an overwhelming responsibility.
“At my morning prayers, I asked, ‘what did you do?’” Lane said.
But just as quickly, he says that while it is a big responsibility and beyond the ministry’s budget, it is “not beyond God’s provision.”
For more than 25 years, Generation Hope has been caring for orphaned and abandoned children at the Village of Hope, in Oradea, Romania, and has also been feeding hundreds of children in Haiti.
At the time of the Russian invasion, Village of Hope was caring for 28 children, primarily from Romania.
When asked if the Village of Hope could take refugee children from Ukraine, he could not refuse, even if it pushed housing capacity.
The first group of 20 Ukrainian children were traveling in three vans. But when they ran out of gas, the children had to walk three days to reach the Romanian border, and wait another 24 hours there in the snow to cross out of Ukraine, Lane said.
“The only clothing they had was what they were wearing and what they could carry,” he said.
Once they were cleared to enter Romania, Village of Hope vans delivered them, after a four-hour drive, to hot meals, warm beds and doctor exams.
The Ukraine invasion has galvanized neighboring countries, like Romania, which has welcomed tens of thousands of refugees.
“Since this happened, its like the entire country of Romania became awake,” he said. “The Romanian government has been very cooperative. The children just need to have legal papers.”
With the existing Village of Hope buildings bulging with the arrival of so many children, the staff had to buy more beds, dinnerware and more, and to begin thinking about how they would present their school lessons.
Lane has been unable to visit Romania for two years because of the pandemic, but plans to return Wednesday to get a better idea of what needs to be done before returning to the United States to begin fundraising.
His son, Jason Lane, pastor for the past 14 years at Skyway Community Chapel, 512 61st St. E., says he is profoundly moved by the heart and soul that Marvin and Carol Lane, his parents, have put into the ministry.
“You see somebody’s love by what they give. I have watched my dad and mom dedicate their lives to these children. It reveals their heart, their heart for the Lord Jesus Christ, and God’s heart toward us. God has prepared the Village of Hope for this situation,” Jason Lane said.
Marvin Lane said he takes no salary for the ministry.
“One hundred percent of all donations will go for the care of the refugee children of Ukraine. There will be no money used for administration. A Christian businessman has committed to finance the administration expenses. When God shows me a need, these questions come to mind: If not you, who? If not now, when? Together we can make a difference,” he said.
“As a ministry that is dedicated to caring for orphan children, our hearts are broken for the welfare of these precious children in Ukraine. It would be a tragedy for us to sit passively by and do nothing,” Marvin Lane said.
Donations can be made to Generation Hope International Ukrainian refugees through the Skyway Community Chapel website at https://www.skywaycc.org/ or at PayPal.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
