JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The sound of explosions is ingrained in Vladimir and Evalina Mirko's minds.
"It's something you can't really forget because even right now, something falls, something breaks, something cracks or something, it's very difficult to associate those sounds with anything other than war-related, like horrors," Evalina Mirko said.
They fled their home in Kyiv with their four children and got to Jacksonville in early April. They have family here, but also came because of Living Stream Church, a Slavic church in Jacksonville.
"We stream all of our services, so a lot of refugees come to our church because they have most likely already heard or known about our church before they watched us online and they choose to come to Jacksonville," lead pastor Bogdan Bondarenko, who's from Ukraine, said.
According to Bondarenko, more than 150 refugees have come to the church since the war started.
"We did not expect them. We were not ready for them. They just came. They found our church online and they came here and we had to provide them absolutely everything, lodging, food, clothes, everything," he said.
He said they need the community's help to host the families, and to donate whatever you're able to families like the Mirkos and the Kramareves. A church employee helped translate for us.
"Her youngest child is autistic, and when the war started, he picked out one toy and we were worried to lose it somewhere, because in the bomb shelters, he slept with it, he ate with it," Irina Kramarev said through the translator.
The Kramareves are from Mariupol, and said their home, church and business have all been destroyed.
Bondarenko said they're expecting more refugees as the war continues.
"I think for us, it's an opportunity to serve people. As a church, I believe we are called to serve people, but especially in this time, in a time like this when it's a war, when people are traumatized. When people are fleeing, risking their lives. Where we want to help them, not just physically, but also spiritually," Bondarenko said.
They're also collecting humanitarian aid, like medical supplies, dry food and hygiene products, to send to Ukraine. Bondarenko said they've created a department within the church to help the refugees.
You can drop donations off at the church's warehouse located at 29 Arlington Road South in Jacksonville Monday through Saturday four to five p.m., call 904-799-2777, or visit the church's website.