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Tireless Philadelphia sisters make remarkable impact in Ukraine
Last year, the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, Jesus Lover of Humanity Province, in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, shipped a cargo container to sisters in Ukraine after the Russian invasion. It was filled with medical supplies, toiletries and clothes donated by churches, community groups, businesses and individuals.
Now they’re collecting money for the Sisters of St. Basil the Great in Ukraine to be used for whatever the people need. According to John Kurey, development director and provincial adviser, the donations have already surpassed $250,000.
“Financial donations are more effective now than material goods,” he said. “They know better what they need, and the banking system in Ukraine is fully functional except in parts of the country taken by the Russians. And sending money is very easy. The sisters can have it the next day in their bank account, so they can buy what they need. That also supports the local economy.” 
The money is being used for medical supplies, food and to assist the displaced, and in one town it helped to purchase an ambulance.
“They’ll be needing money when they begin to restore what was damaged,” said Sister Dorothy Ann Busowski, house coordinator for the convent in Pennsylvania. “Our provincial, Sister Joann Sosler, is going to Romania for a meeting of all our major superiors, and she’ll be able to hand the money directly to the sisters in Ukraine. They can take the money right back with them.”
At the monastery in Zaporizhzhia, the sisters have assisted the military, the local maternity hospital and poor single people in the city and other frontline villages.
Sisters from the monastery in Zhytomyr help refugees from Bakhmut, people in Zhytomyr whose houses were damaged by shelling, and the poor who have many needs. The sisters help about 60 people every month. In another part of Ukraine, sisters take care of displaced persons who live in their monastery in Verkhne Sinyvidne.