From Sioux Falls to Ukraine, couple raises money to bring humanitarian aid

The challenges of addiction and homelessness, refugee resettlement and displacement are even more pronounced in a place like war-torn Ukraine.

Laura and Mark Bohanan are tackling them anyway. For the past 17 years, the Bohanans have run Heart of Ukraine Ministries in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Now, they need even more help and found it during a recent visit to see family in Sioux Falls.

“We first went to Ukraine in 2001 with some friends and 40,000 pounds of humanitarian aid,” Laura Bohanan said. “We’d packed up an entire shipping container of items and saw just a huge need there.”

Mark married Laura 26 years ago after he experienced homelessness and substance abuse addiction. She said Mark changed his life around after rehab at the Union Gospel Mission in Sacramento, California.

“By the time I met him, he’d been clean six years, was working and had custody of his kids,” Bohanan said. “I’d experienced living around substance abuse too; my former husband had started doing heroin.”

Because of their firsthand experience with substance abuse and her background in law enforcement, the military and supervising rehabilitation centers, the couple began working together to help others.

“We had started working with the Slavic population in Sacramento,” Bohanan said. “After we visited Ukraine in 2001, we continued spending summers there and built many contacts.”

In 2007, the Bohanans decided to move to Ukraine, and by 2008, they began their nonprofit, Heart of Ukraine Ministries. 

“We began feeding the homeless in 2008. Despite the financial collapse, we sold our house in the States, packed six suitcases and with $200 moved to Ukraine,” Bohanan said. “We wanted to be obedient to the calling God put on our hearts.”

Since 2008, the Bohanans have worked with the Vinnystia city government in west-central Ukraine and many other agencies. Their work includes feeding programs, rehabilitation services and humanitarian aid, Bohanan said. 

“We’ve served 150,000 meals since we’ve been there,” she said. “Then in 2009, we opened David’s House Rehab Center in Khomutynsi, Ukraine.”

The rehab center about an hour north of Vinnytsia supports men living with addiction and offers housing and vocational training, Bohanan said. The property has multiple acres that allows clients to farm and provide food. 

“More recently, we’ve been pushing for more laws around rehabilitation centers. There’s no laws around this, and many people seem to think if you stop drinking you’re cured, when that isn’t how addiction works.”

The Bohanans have formed connections with the Ukrainian federal prison system and provide staff training and help with events for inmates and staff.

“Since the Russian invasion in 2022, we’ve seen many internally displaced persons and refugees flood into our village,” Bohanan said. “To help feed these people, we’re now raising money for a new soup kitchen in Vinnystia.”

The soup kitchen will shelter guests from the severe weather and provide for more meals. 

“Our fundraising goal is $25,000; this covers a year’s rent and a cook there,” she said.

While in Sioux Falls, the couple has visited LifeChange, New Life Church and Volunteers of America. In the past three weeks, they’ve raised more than $6,500, Bohanan said.

Donations can be made through their GoFundMe campaign or their website, heartofukraine.org.