A Phoenix Ukrainian Catholic church has spent the past week reaching out to parishioners with ties to Ukraine.

St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox President Victor Szwez says the church is keeping its doors open as often as possible.

“We’ve started opening up our church in the evenings, we have it open as much as we can. Last night we were open, tonight we’ll be open, tomorrow we’ll be open,” said Szwez.

Szwez says he’s spoken to parishioners with immediate family in Ukraine, and that the church is beginning efforts to send humanitarian aid.

“You just keep getting reports, more and more people are dying, more and more people are injured, more destruction is happening, I mean it’s just continuous shelling, pretty much around the clock. It’s hard to watch,” said Szwez.

Szwez says one parishioner told him a story of bombs going off near their mother’s house.