As Samaritan’s Purse serves the people on the southwest of the island nation, our church partners are building connections for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Erroll Bennett joyfully filled his van with supplies from Samaritan’s Purse as he described the vast need among suffering people in his community.
Pastor Erroll Bennett prepares to deliver shelter tarps and critical supplies to families in need.
“Even if people at the moment have money, they could not buy anything, so we are totally dependent on the assistance given by others on the outside,” he said. “All around us are desperate people who are in need of the help and we are thanking Samaritan’s Purse for coming in, stepping in and just sharing the love of God with the people.”
He also described how the relief efforts will bless people as he returns with shelter tarps, hygiene kits, and other critical supplies from Samaritan’s Purse.
“Tonight, someone will sleep without water soaking them immediately when it rains. There will be a family who will get those hygiene kits that can take a proper bath. Today, hope will be brought to people [because they know] there are people who care, that there is still a God who provides,” he said.
Days before Hurricane Melissa began to rage along the Jamaican coastline, Pastor Bennett and other local church leaders were already preparing for the aftermath of the Category 5 storm. In the days after, they’ve served as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in many cutoff communities.
Through these partner churches—connected to our work through Operation Christmas Child and our Hurricane Beryl response in 2024—our teams are providing many tons of relief where the needs are greatest. Churches are going house by house, family by family—especially among the particularly vulnerable—to provide tangible help and to remind weary Jamaicans that there is hope and there are people who care.
Samaritan’s Purse staff load supplies to serve hard-hit communities across the Black River region.
So far we have served nearly 9,000 families with shelter tarps, hygiene kits, solar lights, and water filters.
On Nov. 5 we also opened an Emergency Field Hospital in Black River and have deployed mobile medical units into more remote areas. Our medical teams are providing emergency medical and surgical care to the same communities reliant on large facilities such as Black River Hospital, the local medical center that is roofless, with windows blown out, and without power. The doctors, nurses, and staff are in great need themselves.
The Black River Hospital parking lot is now a distribution location for emergency relief.
As we continue to airlift and distribute tons of relief to the suffering island nation we get to see the work strengthen local churches who are serving alongside us in Jesus’ Name.
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“Hopefully when they see that connection, people who weren’t going to church start to go to that church and we empower the local church,” said Peter Iannelli, a member of our distribution team. “This is an opportunity that does not last long to evangelize, to disciple. When the time comes when you’re in need, just all the walls come down.”
A New Perspective on Life
Iannelli met Davia Graham, a local nurse who worked at Black River.
Samaritan’s Purse DART member Peter Iannelli listens to and prays with Black River medical staff and local residents as they receive emergency aid.
“It is still so unreal,” she said while visiting our distribution point for supplies to help her family. “Every day you go and you sleep and you try to pray it’s a bad dream.”
For Davia, who was picking up supplies in the same lot she would have parked in for work, those few moments of conversation with Peter gave her a moment of reprieve from overwhelm. She talked about the pure shock many residents are feeling.
“Honestly, it gives me a new perspective to life. It doesn’t matter what we glory over, whether the house or the car. I’ve seen big houses destroyed with the hurricane. So many earthly things that used to matter don’t mean anything to me,” she said.
Basic supplies have made a big difference in the upturned lives of displaced families who hope for recovery in the days ahead.
Pastor Bennet is praying that the truth of the Gospel and the fleeting nature of life will take hold in his region of the island nation.
“Jamaica has more churches per square mile than any other place. And in this time of desperation, it is good for the church to be that source of hope,” he said. “People can really see that the church is at the heart. The church cares. The church is not just a gathering place of people, but the church can respond to the need.”
“No matter how much we have, we probably need more,” Peter said. “The physical element is one thing but we need the supernatural, so in prayer, ask God to just give favor to the Jamaican people who’ve been through a lot, and to see conversions and to see discipleship. We want evangelism, discipleship, and multiplication, that’s what it’s about.”
Pastor Bennett added to the call for prayer saying, “This hurricane is one of those moments that is etched in our mind in Black River, pray that we will rise again, and that despite everything we know we have a God who cares. Pray that we will get through this moment by drawing closer to God.”
DART members have joined hands with local church partners, in prayer and in meeting needs, to see open doors for the Gospel in Jamaica.
