Art auction Saturday benefits local mission to aid Ukraine

Sep. 1—Ever since Pastor Ottis "Chip" Taylor slipped out of Ukraine just days ahead of the Russian invasion early this year, he has committed himself to helping the ongoing cause of freedom in his adopted homeland.

Currently, the addiction recovery and mental health counselor's calling is to Krakow, Poland, where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees and war-wounded Ukraine soldiers have found a haven. And while relocating with his Ukrainian wife and young son to St. Simons Island, Taylor has found support for his Ukrainian Recovery Ministries nonprofit from the folks at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church and many others in the Golden Isles.

A benefit art auction for the ministry is taking place Saturday at the Holy Nativity, 615 Mallery St. on St. Simons Island. Local artists have donated works from painting to pottery, which will be available during a silent auction from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Food and beverage vendors also will be on hand. Proceeds will benefit Ukrainian Recovery Ministries' (ukrainianrecoveryministries.com) mission to establish a treatment facility in Krakow, Poland.

Taylor just recently returned to St. Simons Island from an initial visit to Krakow. He met with a Polish organization that has refurbished a five-story abandoned building in the city, Taylor said. In addition to women and children torn from their homes and everything they ever knew, the facility is housing wounded Ukrainian soldiers, many suffering PTSD, Taylor said. (Because of the war, the Ukraine government prohibits healthy men from 16 to 60 from leaving the country, Taylor said.)

"These are people who left with only the clothes on their backs and are scrambling just to find a roof over their heads and something to eat," said Taylor, who has operated Ukrainian Recovery Ministries since 2009.

"They have done a tremendous job just to feed and clothe and house them. But there are people here struggling with mental health problems, addiction, PTSD. These issues need to be addressed, and we want to provide the resources to do so."

Taylor started counseling already during his recent three-week visit to Krakow, a city that has taken in some 150,000 Ukrainian refugees. He also plans to teach mental health and addiction recovery methods to others, thereby increasing the number counselors who can provide this badly-needed service. He hopes to return to Krakow in the fall.

"We're already doing the work," Taylor said. "We just need the financing."

A Birmingham, Alabama, native who became an ordained minister in Screven, Taylor spent more than 15 years treating alcoholism and addiction at the Willingway treatment center in Statesboro. He later found himself on a faith-based recovery mission to Ukraine.

He married Lidia in 2014. Their son Daniel is now 7. In 2016, the couple acquired a farm near the Romanian border and operated a treatment facility centered around farming. There they grew vegetables for the making of a popular salsa that supported the farm's efforts to treat mental health issues, alcoholism, addiction and PTSD. With the ongoing conflict from the initial 2014 Russian invasion that led to the annexation of Crimea, Taylor has had far too much experience in treating PTSD, he said.

Many of the soldiers he befriended then are on the front lines defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion now. Lidia has relatives fighting for the nation's freedom. Both know men who have given their lives for the cause.

Taylor and his small family were forced to leave that farm and their beloved homeland behind when the Russian invasion began early this year. A circuitous and harrowing journey led them from there to Taylor's sister's home on St. Simons Island. The family has found kindred spirits in faith at Holy Nativity.

"Chip, Lidia and Daniel appeared in our midst, having been uprooted from the lives of service that they were living Ukraine," said Holy Nativity Pastor Tommy Townsend. "They have experienced something very few Americans can even imagine, yet their hearts remain with their fellow citizens whose lives have been forever changed. As Christians, we feel it is our duty to respond in love during times like these. So, we are doing what we can to support this wonderful family in their efforts to bring hope to those who have suffered greatly because of this crises."

Artists who have donated works to the auction include Ed Cheshire, Brandi Kennerly, Ann Marie Dalis, Elizabeth Holladay and Marilyn Eigen.

For more information about Saturday's benefit, call 912-243-5796.