Sometimes it takes a tragedy to help us find our purpose in life.  For Kalona resident Mike Shapovalov, two events, one private and one public, illuminated his path.

The first event occurred in December 2016.  Mike and his wife Lubov’s fourth child, Elizabeth, passed away just seven weeks after she was born.  Government programs paid for all her medical care, a benefit especially striking to Ukraine-born Mike.

The second event occurred in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.  Mike saw his home country devastated; friends and family still living there sent him photos and gave him reports on living conditions.  As the humanitarian crisis unfolded, with over 6800 civilians dead and thousands more displaced, Mike knew that he could not sit idly by.

Granted permanent U.S. residency for the past 20 years, and the ability to live a comfortable life in Kalona, complete with Lubov, their five children, and employment as a custodian at Hillcrest Academy, he felt he had to pay it forward.

With the support of Sharon Bethel Church and Hillcrest Academy, he started collecting donations.  Food, personal hygiene items, clothing, blankets, candles, flashlights – he took everything people would offer him; commissioned Lubov to sort, package, and label it; and filled a shipping container.  He sent it to people he knew in Ukraine for distribution; it was a time-consuming and expensive endeavor.

When asked about it, Mike mentions a Bible passage from Luke:

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box.  Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.

(Luke 21:1-4)

“I’m not a rich guy,” Mike says.  “One time my daughter asked, ‘Why do you work at this place?’ Because sometimes my money is very low.  I have five kids and my wife is not working.”

However, not being wealthy hasn’t deterred him from giving what he can.  In fact, he has a unique gift for getting others to give as well.

After sending off the first shipping container, he thought, “I’m done.  That’s too much work.  I want to give someone else [the opportunity to do it] and I’ll just help.  But some people said, ‘Mike, there’s no reason for that.  You must keep going.’”

“People say, ‘Mike, you’re lucky.  Sometimes when people ask [for donations], nobody gives.  [But people give when you ask] because you know so many people around here,’” he says, adding that it helps that his wife has been in the U.S.  longer than he has, and she has many connections within the church.

So Mike collected items needed by people in his homeland once again, and he sent a second shipping container to aid them. 

He’s now working on a third, which he hopes to have filled and ready to ship by the end of January.  He has four or five storage barns around Kalona filled with blankets, sweaters, and rice, among other things.  Lubov devotes her time to preparing it all for shipment.

Especially needed, he notes, are wheelchairs and crutches, as there are thousands of wounded soldiers in Ukraine that require them.  Candles, too, are used as a source of light and heat, and the cost to buy one in Ukraine is as high as $12.

“We actually had quite a few students help with the last shipment that went out,” notes Don Patterson, who heads the facilities department at Hillcrest. 

“I think probably this [next] shipment is important because the news isn’t featuring Ukraine quite as much, but the needs are still there,” he adds.

Patterson says that the students and staff at Hillcrest benefit from Mike’s work at the school. 

“One of the things he brings to us is his perspective, because none of us have ever lost our home or had to leave our country,” he says.  “Now he’s here and remembers home and it’s war.  So, he brings a perspective we don’t have at all.”

Andrea Farrier, an English teacher at Hillcrest, agrees that Mike is an asset to the school.

“He’s a role model for our students in that he clearly is serving people, which is the example Christians are called to follow.  He doesn’t advertise his service (in fact, there’s a whole lot that he does that our students probably don’t even know about), but he does invite students to participate with him in service (such as sharing about the shipping containers for Ukraine) and he celebrates what God has done to and for him,” she says.

“I’d also say he’s a role model in other ways,” she adds.  “He’s reliable and dependable.  He always has a smile and a warm greeting to share with everyone.  He brings treats (like doughnuts or candy) for the whole student body sometimes.  He encourages the students to work hard and study, particularly in Spanish (our only foreign language).  He reminds them that he never thought he’d need English when he was taking it in school, and now he lives in the U.S.”

“I’d say it’s really good that our students have him as an example to look up to,” Farrier concludes.

Mike takes a moment to reflect upon on his own sense of purpose.  “I think, why am I living in this country [the U.S.]?  And now maybe I understand.”

He cites the example of Joseph:

But there wasn’t enough food in the whole area.  In fact, there wasn’t enough food anywhere.  The people of Egypt and Canaan lost their strength because there wasn’t enough food to go around.  Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan.

(Genesis 47:13-14, 17)

He helped the people live through that year by trading them food for all their livestock.

“The Bible said he saved many lives.  Maybe this is why I’m here,” Mike says.

Mike Shapovalov continues to accept donations of food, personal hygiene, clothing, and other items to help the people of Ukraine.  Cash donations are also welcome to help with transport costs for the shipping container.   Contact Mike at 319-259-2299 for more information.