Barry and Karen Holt, crisis missionaries who live in Lexington, spoke with The Star-Herald on the crisis for resources in Ukraine and how locals in the community can make a difference.
Barry Holt, a Kosciusko native, watched closely as Russia started invading Ukraine. As things progressed in the invasion, Holt did not hesitate and booked a flight on March 18th to Vienna, Austria. At the time, his wife Karen could not go with him, but waited at their Lexington farm for his return.
When Holt arrived in Vienna, Austria, he took a car and train to travel to Slovakia. He and other faith-based missionaries and locals got to work loading resources by the truck load to be distributed to Ukrainians.
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“It took us about six hours to get from Slovakia to the border of Ukraine,” said Holt. “After arriving at the border of Ukraine, it could take anywhere from three to six hours before the missionaries were able to cross into the country with supplies.”
Some of supplies included flour, sugar, foam mattress pads, toilet paper, noodles, and other necessities. The missionaries and helpers would fill up boxes to hand out to locals. Drivers even took the filled-up supplies closer into the war zones.
“Every time any of the drivers left to go into the war zone and deliver supplies, we all took a moment and prayed together,” Holt recalled. “We just thought through everything about what to bring and how’s it going to be processed. I mean, this was a lot of activity.”
In Ukraine, Holt stayed at a ski resort with refugees and other faith-based helpers. There they unloaded supplies for distribution. While on a supply run to Slovakia, Holt got a text that the building he was staying in got burned down.
“We left on a Saturday evening and drove Sunday into Slovakia across the border around the middle of the night. And on Monday evening, we got a text message that said the hotel was on fire. Because of what was going on there, with the humanitarian aid.”
This was not a defeat to the missionaries and refugees. For three more weeks, Holt, refugees, other missionaries, and the local townspeople got as many boxes of supplies out as they could.
While Holt was in the Ukraine, he would update his wife Karen daily on supplies that the Ukrainian people were needing.
“The mattress pads we knew were too big for the refugees to be on the run with and to move around for place to place,” said Karen Holt.
Though Karen did not go on the mission with her husband, she is not new to being in the middle of a war zone as a crisis missionary.
While Holt was doing the groundwork in Ukraine, Karen wanted to help the refugees. She spent many nights in her bed praying to God that she could help the people of Ukraine. And that’s when she had her lightbulb moment.
“As I pulled my warm covers up and prayed, that’s when it hit me,” she said. “The people of Ukraine need sleeping bags.”
The next morning, she contacted different organizations to see if they could potentially help her with shipping these supplies and goods to Ukraine. She also asked her husband to speak to people on the ground about shipping supplies.
During this time, Karen and some of her friends came up with the idea of the Bag Ladies — a group that allows locals to donate gently used or new sleeping bags, blankets, coloring books, sketch pads, colored pencils, vitamins, and torniquets.
Most of the organizations that got back with her were already too full to take on any new suppliers, but it only took Barry 30 minutes on foot to find his wife the right connection.
“I received a call from a lady in the Ukraine and she gave me a phone number and told me to call this man in the states,” said Karen.
After her conversation, she teamed up with the shipper, who also had a warehouse, to get supplies to the Ukraine. This is how the Bag Ladies started.
“Not a penny of the donations goes to us, not even for our gas or lunch,” she said.
Barry Holt returned to Lexington on April 7th eager to help his wife distribute more supplies to the Ukraine.
The Holts now have two shippers to send supplies to the Ukraine, and a warehouse to put all the sleeping bags, and other necessities in that will then get distributed to the Ukrainians.
Locals and citizen can donate in many ways. The Bag Ladies website launched on April 27th and The Bag Ladies are also on Facebook. More information on making donations can be found at bagladies.love or by e-mail or telephone. They can be reached at: Barry Holt, 601-613-2288, Barry@tomsmithland.com or Karen Holt, 601-942-3519, Holtfam@msn.com.
