“We want justice, we want peace!” sang dozens of volunteers who formed a human chain in Amersfoort, Nether­lands, to load hygiene supplies and comforters for war-torn Ukraine.

Shouts of joy and celebration went up as they finished loading 1,000 relief kits in 5-gallon buckets marked with the Mennonite Central Committee logo. Sixty more relief kits were added later, totaling 1,060 buckets full of supplies for families.

The volunteers assembled and packed the kits and bundled 785 comforters in May as part of a four-day gathering of European Mennonites known as CMERK, held every six years.

“I am very happy,” said volunteer organizer Matt Hofer, who leads the urgent aid efforts of Swiss Mennonite Mission. “For me, it is very important for meetings like this, at conferences, that we have this practical approach. We let our faith be shown in a practical output.”

Hofer estimated hundreds of volunteers of all ages assisted with assembling the kits, loading them and packing comforters. Gerrit Jan Romeyn, secretary of the Dutch relief agency Doopsgezind Wereldwerk, led the effort to purchase and gather supplies for Ukraine on behalf of the European Mennonite Relief Organizations.

Helping to load the truck were Max, a Mennonite Brethren pastor, and his wife, Anya, leaders of an MCC partner, New Hope Center in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Staff at the center, about 20 miles from the military contact line, address parents’ and children’s emotional and social needs made worse by the war.

One of the volunteers, Eileen Hofer, 30, grew up in a Mennonite community in Switzerland, where her parents, Matt and Sylvie Hofer, stressed helping people in need. It was only appropriate that she assist the Ukraine effort.

“I really like the Bible verse where if you have so much you have more to share,” she said of Luke 12:48. “We are so privileged in our country. With how I live, I have much to give. I want to invest in something that is building peace.”

The supplies included comforters with a variety of patterns. Quilting groups from France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland contributed comforters.

“I think it will bring [people in Ukraine] a little bit of color or hope knowing that people did this by hand and didn’t just buy it,” Eileen Hofer said. “I hope that it gives them hope. The way Jesus lived is to bring peace and bring hope, and he was with people who didn’t have much. We have a lot, so we share.”

Since 2015, several thousand comforters from Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and France have been shipped to people in need, including those in Syria and Jordan.

“It is very inspiring to see how the people helping worked together and got to know each other,” said Marjan Huisman. She and Jeanette Stenvers coordinated the efforts of Dutch quilt­ers who contributed comforters and the volunteers who worked on comforters at the conference.

A youth group from Switzerland raised money for the project and donated about $5,080.

The truck left the Netherlands on May 16 and reached the Ukrainian border two days later. The humanitarian assistance was headed to the warehouse of the Association of Mennonite Brethren Churches of Ukraine, another MCC partner, in western Ukraine. Some of the supplies will go to those in need closer to the contact line in the eastern part of the country.

“The main work is now to be done in Ukraine. They have tremendous attacks each day. They need this encouragement,” Matt Hofer said. “A quilt can show we are with them. We worked for two days. They have been dealing with the war for nearly five years.”