Newsletter April 2025 - First Presbyterian Ridgewood, NJ
- Pastor Bruce
- Mar 30
- 3 min read
We are a welcoming community formed in Christ, committed to sharing his love with others – with feet that carry us out into the world, with hands that serve, and with hearts in fellowship and faith.
Dear Friends,
By the time you read this, Ivan, Kateryna, Yan and Kira Mashliakevych will have begun settling in Charlotte, NC.
Although they are sad to leave us, the move is what is best for the family at this time. Ivan was offered a job earning considerably more than he was earning here, and the cost of living is lower in North Carolina than it is in New Jersey. What’s more, they will now be closer to Kateryna’s mother, who also lives in North Carolina.
It was nearly three years ago that the Mashliakevych family arrived in the United States. During the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, their home in the city of Mariupol was bombed. They then fled to Poland, where they stayed briefly, before coming to the United States through the Uniting for Ukraine program.
The evening before their arrival, I received a text from a staff person from Stewartsville Presbyterian Church in Highlands Presbytery, asking if our congregation might be able and willing to walk alongside the family since they would be living in an apartment in nearby Garfield. The next day was a Sunday, and I shared this information with the congregation during worship.
Your response was amazing!
By that evening, we were able to deliver many of the items they needed to begin furnishing their apartment as well as a stroller for baby Yan. By the end of that week, thanks to members of First Pres, their apartment was completely furnished – including a refrigerator to replace the one that came with the apartment because it did not work. Shortly thereafter, many of you contributed to a love offering so the family could purchase additional items they needed.
During the past three years, members and friends of the congregation have truly walked alongside the Mashliakevych family:
Offering friendship and inviting them into your homes for social gatherings.
Helping Ivan find work as a handyman.
Providing fresh vegetables through the Produce Mission.
Providing Ivan with some drywall repair work at the church.
Arranging for Yan to enroll in preschool as well as summer activities.
Providing transportation for Yan to attend preschool.
Arranging for a baby shower prior to the birth of Kira.
Welcoming the family into the membership of the church and baptizing Yan and Kira.
• Assisting them financially through our mission budget.
• Securing Refugee Assistance Grants through the Presbytery of Northeast NJ to assist the family financially.
• Attempting to help Ivan find employment commensurate with his experience.
• Connecting the family to an attorney at Church World Service, who assisted them with their asylum application, which he believes stands a good chance of approval.
• Helping them pack and prepare for their move.
Both the Old and New Testaments teach us to welcome the stranger. In Leviticus 19:34, we read: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. And in Hebrews 13:2, we read: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that, some have entertained angels without knowing it.
As your pastor, I am extremely pleased that this congregation has been so welcoming to Ivan, Kateryna, Yan and Kira!
As we prepare for Easter, I am reminded that ours is the God who specializes in resurrection – bringing new life out of death and destruction, healing where there has been pain, and hope in the midst of despair.
I am grateful that God has used us as instruments of grace to assist the Mashliakevych family as they rebuild a new life together out of the ruins of the home and the life they left behind.
Grace and peace,
Bruce
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