By Gennady Podgaisky
Sometime last fall, I heard from the weather forecasters that this upcoming 2025-2026 winter in Poland will be a harsh one and that people need to prepare for it. While helping and communicating with several Ukrainian refugee families, I learned about the need for winter clothes (jackets) and winter shoes (boots) for some of them. Praise God, we had ministry funds specifically for these types of needs. 
In the past, we sometimes purchased and distributed winter items to those in need or gave money directly to people to purchase needed items. This time, I decided to take people to the store so that they would choose jackets and/or boots themselves, and I would pay for them. This turned out to be a really funexperience and a big blessing for them, and for me as well.
I took one Ukrainian refugee family (a mother with her older teenage son and a younger daughter) to the store, and they carefully selected few clothes and asked if the price was okay for me to pay. I told them yes, the price was okay, and that they could choose something else or a different, more expensive jackets, if they liked other jackets more than those which they chose. After we finished shopping, I brought them back to their rented apartment.
On the way back in the car, the boy said that it was his first jacket ever, which he chose himself. Then his mother commented, “I could not believe that you are doing it for us; it is a huge blessing which fell down upon us as from heaven.” I responded that it is indeed from heaven; it is a blessing from God through many faithful Christians who care and who give funds in the name of Jesus.
Then, from a different refugee family, Mina and I took two boys to shop for winter boots. The boys were 12 and six years old. I am pretty sure that it was their first independent “shoe shopping” without their parents choosing shoes for them. On the way to the store, I asked which shoes they like. The younger one responded, “I like not classical shoes.”
In the store, the older boy tried few pairs and chose one pair. The six-year-old needed my help and I chose several different models and sizes of winter boots for him to try. He tried them and one pair fit him good and he liked them. Then he asked me if the boots were not “classical boots.” I assured him that they were not classic boots. He was happy to learn that the boots were not “classical boots” because he does not like classical shoes/boots. We purchased them and brought the boys back home.
The next week I saw that boy and he thanked me and told me that, “he liked those boots but that he did not think that we would actually buy shoes for him.” Now, with the temperatures in Poland plunging down to 0 degrees, those winter shoes and jackets will become handy. I felt incredibly privileged to be a channel of God’s blessings in this way. May we all be those channels of God’s love, care and provision to those around us who desperately need it in classical and non-classical ways.