About Mark
After two years of interacting with Russian refugees in Greensboro, NC, Mark Koehler made a contact in Odessa Ukraine late in 2000. He became aware of the poverty and difficult life that face the children of Odessa. God put a deep burden upon his heart for these children. In fact, Mark believed that God was calling him to move to Ukraine as a missionary to care for the children.
Over a period of two years, Mark investigated the process of becoming a missionary. At the same time, already deeply committed to the calling, he was tying up the loose ends of his life in America. In March of 2001, he visited Odessa, Ukraine for ten days. He witnessed first hand the everyday hardships the children endured. He was convinced that he had to do something about it.
With the promise of support from family and friends, in May of 2002, Mark moved to Odessa Ukraine. Prior to his missionary training with Youth with a Mission in Ternopil, Ukraine, friends took him to visit Marganets, about 320 miles east. He was so touched by the need of the children at the Number 3 Orphanage/School, that he made a commitment to help them. In June, while visiting Illichevsk, southwest of Odessa, he encountered the Emmaus Christian Club in a neighborhood of extreme poverty. The local Baptist church runs a food program for children from difficult homes. This was to be the second outreach program with which Mark would become involved.
The stress of living in a foreign country for several years and not speaking the language took its toll. Mark found massage therapy treatment effective, not only for relieving stress, but for treating his mild physical disability. In March 2004, after three months of treatment, he had an amazing breakthrough. At that time, God put it upon his heart to begin a massage clinic for children with physical disabilities who were not receiving treatment that would improve their conditions. That was the beginning of the Massage Therapy Clinic.
His mission of three outreach programs had grown and needed a more formal structure. Mission Ukraine Children’s Hope was incorporated in the state of North Carolina, and application was made to the Internal Revenue Service for non-profit public charity status. In May 2004, Mission Ukraine Children’s Hope was recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Mark’s family and friends have rallied around his cause for the children of Ukraine. He looks to God as the true Director of his work. As founder of MUCH, he acknowledges that MUCH is a big team, both in America and in Ukraine, and he is only one part of it.
