Staff Report

LOVES PARK – A Rockford-area mission to Russia and the former Soviet Union today announced its on-the-ground church task force has distributed more than 500,000 meals to desperate families as Russia’s coronavirus infections hit a new high.

The Slavic Gospel Association, 6151 Commonwealth Drive, Loves Park, partners with a grassroots network of  6,350 evangelical churches across the former Soviet Union to support orphans, widows, and families in need.

It’s reached a critical point,” said President Michael Johnson said. “Much of the region remains in a state of lockdown, and people are getting desperate as food supplies run low.”

Russia has jumped to third place behind the U.S. and Brazil in new infections, now officially at more than 360,000, with more than 3,800 deaths. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he believes 250,000 could be infected in the capital alone, where crews were spraying disinfectant over the streets.

Remote rural communities are struggling because they have little infrastructure or government assistance.

“In many areas, the local church is the safety net. There’s no other help,” Johnson said.

Working directly with local evangelical churches from Eastern Europe to the Bering Strait off the coast of Alaska – a distance of 4,170 miles – the Slavic Gospel Association is delivering critical food aid to the exact point of need, even to isolated villages above the Arctic Circle.

For $10, SGA provides food to assist a family for one to two weeks. Usually, food is purchased in the community to support local sellers.