Two weeks ago, I walked through the ruins of multiple schools in Druzhkivka, just behind the front lines. My guide walked beside me, pointing to where the classrooms once stood, the windows now blown out, the playgrounds buried in debris. "My wife and I both graduated from this one," he said quietly. But it didn’t matter if it was kindergarten, high school, or college—every school in the town had been bombed.
They hit the schools first. Then the hospital and clinics. Then the homes. Then the community center. It’s not random. It’s a pattern. A methodical unraveling of civilian life. And it begins with the children.
In June alone, Russia launched over 5,400 drones and 330 missiles. By mid-July, nearly 2,000 more drones followed. In the places I stood, there were no military targets—just schools, clinics, and apartment blocks. The architecture of daily life, leveled.
At least 236 civilians were killed and more than 1,365 were injured in that same period, including children. In Dnipro, I saw the same story—schools erased, hospitals in rubble, futures interrupted. This is not just a war against a country. It is a war on childhood, on existence.
What’s surprising to me is not just the scale of the loss but the tenacious, steady ways healing takes root.
At The Novi Community, we’ve just completed another round of summer camps in conflict zones where laughter, healing, and hope still break through. Every month, we deliver nutrition programs to frontline families, create flexible education spaces for displaced children, and restore community centers where kids can learn, draw, and play even as air raid sirens echo in the distance.
We do this together with you.
You, our soulful, caring, generous supporters, are helping us plant grace in the rubble the world has grown tired of seeing. Not because people don’t care. But because the heartbreak feels unending, most hearts can only hold so much pain.
If you’re already part of this story, thank you. You are helping hold back the darkness, one child at a time.
And if you’re not yet part of this, now is the time. Join us in the places where strong, resilient communities have endured three years of war and loss. Walk alongside those who continue to create, rebuild, and care for one another in the hardest conditions. Help us love with courage, like Christ, where the ache runs deep and hope still refuses to die.
Steve Gumaer is the CEO of Novi
The Novi Community is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
