With generous contributions from Baptist team members, combined with matching from Pastoral Care and the Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation, our campaign for Ukraine Relief raised $30,431.
The funds went to Crosslink Memphis to provide greatly needed medical supplies and medicines to Ukraine. Crosslink Memphis is a local ministry and part of an international organization that equips medical mission teams with medical supplies and medicines. The campaign to raise the funds was organized by Baptist Foundation, Pastoral Care and Baptist Health Sciences University (BHSU).
Rev. Anthony Burdick, Baptist’s system director of Pastoral Care, provided more details about the campaign and Crosslink Memphis during our talk with him.
Were you surprised by the generosity of the donations?
It didn’t surprise me at all. Baptist team members have always been very generous with our disaster relief efforts. I was very pleased that we were able to raise that much. Everyone did a great job of getting the word out about the campaign.
How will these funds help people in Ukraine?
I know there is a great need for medical supplies for the people of Ukraine. Medicines and basic things that we take for granted are hard to get over there right now due to the war. And so, we’re able through Crosslink Memphis to get much needed basic medical supplies over to them.
Why was Crosslink Memphis chosen to receive the funds?
Crosslink Memphis had limited supplies available, but they have buying power because of connections with pharmaceutical companies. Providing Crosslink Memphis with funds was the best way get supplies to the people of Ukraine.
I worked with my counterpart at the university, Karen Smith, director of campus ministries at BHSU, and AJ Kamer, the executive director at Crosslink Memphis, to coordinate all of this. Both Karen and I are on the board of Crosslink Memphis.
Baptist has had a relationship with Crosslink since 2005. We helped them get established here after their move from Virginia. We’ve also provided them with surplus supplies and retired equipment over the years that kept them stocked and able to help mission teams as they went overseas. We’ve given them retired equipment that’s ended up in the Philippines, Bolivia and India. Through Crosslink Memphis and its networking, Baptist has been able to minister all over the world.
Is there anything you would like to add?
I would like to say a big thank you to our team members, members of our Baptist family, who, through their generosity, are making a difference around the world. Whenever we do something like this, it’s like we’ve extended our family out to the world and welcomed them into what we do. I would love to see us do this kind of thing more and more. It’s a wonderful way for us to extend our three-fold ministry of Christ around the world.
I would also like to say a big thank you to the Baptist Foundation for supporting this and to the folks at BHSU and at Crosslink Memphis who made this possible. It’s just amazing to me.
