'The depth of pain, it’s so intense:' B.C. couple still helping in Ukraine almost one year after invasion

Despite the danger, a Fraser Valley couple is pushing forward with their humanitarian work in war-ravaged Ukraine, almost a year after the Russian invasion.

Working with the Chilliwack-based charity, Hungry for Life, Chad and Mary Martz have been travelling into difficult-to-reach areas with food and supplies.

“There’s not necessarily a lot of organizations that are going in there,” explained Chad Martz, saying their work takes them to places where bridges have been blown out and to the war's front line.

The chaiity has raised $3.4 million in the past year and provided 1,200 tons of food and supplies to more than 700,000 people in Ukraine.

The conflict has forced millions of people from their homes and tens of thousands of people have been killed.

“We were in a church with 50 to 60 widows, just in a small area – widows from this war,” he said.

“The depth of pain, it’s so intense, you can’t measure it.”

Chad is back in Chilliwack for a short time, while his wife remains in Ukraine where she grew up.

In an interview with CTV News, he said the brutal war has made life desperate for many.

“When you go to de-occupied areas, you’ve got mass devastation…levelled villages to the ground,” he explained.

“Those people who have lost their homes, there’s not much of an option for them,” he said, describing one woman they helped who was living in a chicken coop and others living in a garage.

He said the length of the war is grinding on people, particularly with the attacks on infrastructure that have led to regular blackouts.

“You see a lot of like lifelessness in their eyes,” he said.

Chad also said some children are going to school, but under difficult circumstances.

“They can only go to school if they have a bunker in it. And so now when you have electricity shortages, when the air sirens are going off, they’re having to go into their bunkers and then they’re also having to learn under headlights,” he explained.

He said the war has left people not just exhausted and in need of food, but also in need of comfort.

And while there are no signs of the war letting up, he said the people remain determined.

“They are still persevering and digging their heels in that much more because the alternative is going to be that much worse if they get conquered by Russia,” he said.