In the rubble of a hotel fire, the outline of a blessing.
The Quality Inn in Winkler recently suffered a catastrophic structural fire. But amidst the gutted rooms and scorched carpets, there remained usable coffee tables, nightstands, and TVs.
Schinkel Properties, the hotel’s owner, called Nathan Elias with an offer: Could Faith Mission use any of it?
Elias paused. “It felt,” he says, “like God was dropping this in our lap.”
The small but tenacious humanitarian group headquartered in Winkler held a live fundraising auction August 4 featuring nearly a thousand lots of salvaged hotel furnishings. Some of the items will be shipped to churches in war-ravaged Ukraine and Moldova. The rest were sold to fund Faith Mission’s Christmas gift box program. The hand-packed boxes of toys, clothes, and essentials will cross oceans to end up in the arms of children who live in the crosshairs of war.
God, a Garage, and a War-Torn Continent
The year was 1993. Ukraine had just emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union. Nathan’s parents were approached by a German church organization asking if they’d consider collecting clothes to ship to the newly independent country. They cleared out their single-car garage in Winkler, hoping to fill a single container.
Thirty-one years later, Faith Mission has shipped 319 containers of humanitarian aid overseas.
Today, the group works closely with local pastors across Ukraine and Moldova. However, these pastors regularly replace tires riddled with bullets, shepherd flocks within missile range, and who drive through mortar fire to deliver food.
Elias has stood with them.
Just last month, he traveled to Georgia, visiting churches who’ve received Faith Mission aid. Last year, he and a few board members crossed into Ukraine and drove within miles of the front line.
“There were times we felt the ground shake,” he recalls. “Missiles landing nearby. You hear the air raid alerts 10, 15 times a day. I turned mine off. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
But the people they visited couldn’t turn it off. They lived there. And they stayed, not out of bravery, but because they had nowhere else to go.
Elias’ voice is calm, but not detached. “As Canadians, we can’t understand that kind of fear. That kind of permanence. You wonder why they don’t just leave, and then you realize… they can’t.”
Love in a Cardboard Box
The heart of this auction is Faith Mission’s Christmas gift box program. Each year, with the help of local churches, volunteers assemble thousands of shoebox-sized packages filled with toys, winter gear, hygiene items, and candy. Some donors contribute filled boxes. Others give funds, allowing Faith Mission’s team to pack them in-house.
“These boxes,” Elias says, “they’re not just gifts. They’re proof. Proof to a child that they are not forgotten.”
The contents are basic. Socks. A toothbrush. A chocolate bar. But when you live under occupation, or flee airstrikes, or spend weeks without electricity, those little gifts speak with divine volume.
In recent years, Faith Mission has had to dip into their general fund to cover the cost of the gift box program. But this auction, Elis hopes, will change that.
“If all goes well,” he says, “we’ll be able to cover the entire project. That means we can use our general fund for other urgent needs like food, medical supplies, or generators.”
A Theology of Proximity
Nathan doesn’t romanticize what they’re doing. He knows aid work is imperfect, messy, and difficult. But what sets Faith Mission apart is proximity. They don’t just send money. They send people.
“When you stand in front of someone whose life is in ruins and tell them that God loves them, it hits different,” Nathan says. “They ask, why are you here? Why would you come here when you could be home with your family, safe?”
Elias says it comes down to demonstrating love.
“When you’re putting yourself or your life at risk by going two kilometers from the front line and you tell the people there, that’s why you’re doing it, they pay attention.”
