There’s a new but familiar face at the helm of Faith Mission (FriedensBote) in Winkler.
The Christian ministry has hired a full-time executive director for the first time in its 29-year history, but Nathan Elias is by no means a stranger to the organization.
He’s the son of Faith Mission founder Jake Elias. The younger Elias spent many hours growing up helping out with the ministry’s work. As an adult, he’s remained active as a volunteer and board member.
“I grew up in the mission. It started on our yard and I grew up being pretty involved,” he says. “A lot of my early memories are of me and my grandpa cutting cardboard for the clothing bales.”
Elias spent six months working on behalf of Faith Mission in Ukraine in 2004 and has returned there for shorter outreach trips a number times in the years since.
“It instilled a desire in me to keep working with it and now, the last number of years, to take it a step further,” he says.
Operating out of its location at 520 Circle K Drive, Faith Mission sends shipping containers full of donated used clothing, food, bicycles, and Christmas gift boxes to Ukraine to be distributed to families in need.
Jake Elias, who remains involved on the mission’s board of directors, says the ministry has grown so much in recent years that the time seemed right to hire someone to head things up full-time.
“It’s just too much work for volunteers to handle,” he says. “We’ve been talking about doing this for awhile and finally decided now was a good time to do it.”
For Nathan Elias, jumping into a career in ministry is an exciting challenge and also an opportunity, he hopes, to bring the mission’s work to new heights.
“There’s many different avenues that we can expand,” he says, noting his immediate focus over the next couple of months is to grow the gift box program for orphaned and needy kids in Ukraine from the 3,500 or so they sent last year.
“We’re hoping to expand the gift boxes substantially, to get a lot more locally,” Elias says, noting the mission’s volunteers put together about 1,200 of last year’s boxes themselves, with the rest coming in from the community. “It seems to have progressed fairly gradually the last number of years … I think there’s a lot more potential there.”
Boxes and supply lists can be picked up from Faith Mission or Winkler’s Dollar Tree. People are asked to fill them with things like socks, mittens, personal hygiene products (toothbrushes, washcloths, combs), school supplies, and small toys appropriate for both a boy or a girl age 4-9 or 10-16 years old. The mission adds an evangelical colouring book, religious tract, candy, and food to every box.
The deadline to return the filled boxes to Faith Mission is mid-November so they can be sent out with the last shipment of the year.
For some of the kids, these gift boxes are the only present they’ll receive for Christmas.
“I’ve seen firsthand what our boxes can do out there,” Elias says. “They’re being used to spread the Gospel. Wherever they’re handing out gift boxes, the children there are getting the true meaning of Christmas, the story behind it.
“It can have a very lasting impact on society, just starting with something as simple as a gift box.”
Elias is also working on increasing what food they can send overseas.
“Since the war started we’ve sent a lot of funds to our sister organization in Germany and they’ve sent food from Germany into Ukraine,” he says. “But some of the food, especially flour and sugar, we can buy a lot cheaper here.”
Since they send shipping containers full of clothing overseas several times a year (they expect to have sent 12 by the end of 2023—several more than in past years), adding more non-perishable food is a possibility they’re exploring.
“We’re hoping to get a few different types of food going,” Elias says. “Especially now, with winter coming up … they’re very concerned over there about what winter is going to bring because there just is nothing to eat. And then the fighting is just constant.”
They’re also looking to raise funds to send to Ukraine for the purchase firewood in advance of winter, when prices go way up.
“The one thing we can do to make our dollar go further is if we buy firewood now, rather than waiting until it gets cold,” Elias says, noting they pay nearly double for the same amount of wood come December.
You can learn more about Faith Mission’s work and make a donation online at faithmission.ca. Or call 204-325-4086.
