MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Melbourne pastor is part of a global nonprofit dedicated to helping Jewish people get out of Ukraine as the region becomes more unstable.

What You Need To Know

  • Reverend Gary Cristofano, with Ezra International, is monitoring the situation in Ukraine

  • The group is watching to see whether tensions between Russia and Ukraine worsen

  • The organization is ready to provide humanitarian relief for those who might get trapped

  • ​The group is prepared to house and feed any refugees until they can get out of harm's way

Reverend Gary Cristofano is with Ezra International, and its motto is Rescue, Return, Restore.

For the past 25 years, the organization has been helping Jewish people around the world return to their homeland — Israel.

And now this organization is ready to step in again and provide humanitarian relief for those who might be trapped if tensions between Russia and Ukraine get worse.

"They're persecuted, they're poor, they can't make the process of getting home to Israel without help," Cristofano says.

The group assists people in getting back from countries like the former USSR, helping document their Jewish ancestry, get visas and passports and give financial help to make the journey.

In the past 25 years, more than 86,000 Jewish people have made it home, half of them who had been stranded in Ukraine.

They've seen the current situation play out before when Russia invaded and took over the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

"They were Ukrainian citizens one day, Russian citizens the next day," Cristofano says. "We were uniquely positioned to help them out because we work in both Russia and Ukraine."

Ezra International is closely watching the Ukraine situation.

"Our teams are doing everything they can to get ready. The unknown is the problem right now," the reverend says.

​The group is also prepared to house and feed any refugees until they can get out of harm's way.