Boun Thorne grew up in a boat village in the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia. In the aftermath of a terrible situation, she moved at age 10 to a safe house where she received Bible teaching and an Operation Christmas Child shoebox—her first gift ever! When Boun inquired why someone would send her a gift,…
Operation Christmas Child
Idaho Woman Ignites a Passion for Shoebox Ministry in Local Church
Michelle Morgan celebrated her 50th birthday in an unusual way. Instead of cakes, cards, and carefully wrapped presents, she wanted shoeboxes. Fifty of them. And she wanted toys, school supplies, and hygiene items to pack inside of them. Michelle planned to prepare 50 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for children in need overseas to commemorate her…
Operation Christmas Child
Introducing Churches to Operation Christmas Child
Mary Johnson serves as the church relations coordinator for the Greater Petersburg, Virginia, Area Team. This group of volunteers is responsible for promoting and coordinating shoebox packing efforts in five counties just south of Richmond. “I think our key role for this area is our black churches,” Mary said. “Our job is to get in…
Operation Christmas Child
Building Church Partners
Dally Quintana serves as the church relations coordinator in Chicago, where she leads a team of volunteers to promote Operation Christmas Child among their congregations. Dally and her husband, Hector, began volunteering with Operation Christmas Child in 2012 and have packed shoeboxes for over 17 years. They started out as project leaders in their church,…
Operation Christmas Child
Evangelism Is Her Passion
Deborah Warner serves as chaplain—as well as school nurse and music teacher for third and fourth graders—at Florida Christian School (FCS) in Miami. In addition to serving as the Operation Christmas Child project leader at her school, she also volunteers year-round as a prayer mobilization coordinator. As the 1,100 students of FCS packed 1,331 shoeboxes…
50 Years of Ministry
Iron Curtain Falls, Doors for Ministry Open
Samaritan’s Purse was 21 years old when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, opening a door for evangelical Christians to work behind what had been the Iron Curtain. For the next 15 years, Samaritan’s Purse was able to work in Jesus’ Name in Russia, from the shadows of the Kremlin to the reindeer herdsmen living…
Operation Christmas Child
Challenges Don’t Hinder Volunteer from Following God’s Call
As a year-round volunteer, Rebecca Parker-Moore leads the efforts of Operation Christmas Child’s area team in Huntington, West Virginia. “An area coordinator overseas all the operations of collecting shoeboxes, shepherding a team, and just being the face of Operation Christmas Child in a community,” Rebecca said. At age 16, Rebecca started packing shoebox gifts simply…
50 Years of Ministry
Delivering Christmas to Children in Uganda
In late 2002, Franklin Graham gathered with musician Bono (of U2) and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Youth Choir at New York’s JFK International Airport for a special send-off. More than 80,000 Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts were loaded onto an Antonov 225, the world’s largest cargo jet at the time, to be transported to Ugandan children…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Emergency Field Hospital and Relief Supplies Airlifted to Hurricane-Hit Honduras
Update (Nov. 16): Distributions are underway in Honduras! Samaritan’s Purse is providing household water filters, emergency shelter material, and hygiene kits to area pastors to aid hurting families in their respective communities. The Emergency Field Hospital is also open and saw 20 patients on its first day! Please pray as Iota is predicted to make…
50 Years of Ministry
Volunteers Are the Backbone of Our Work
Volunteers are a critical part of the work of Samaritan’s Purse. That’s particularly true at this time of the year, as it is National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. It takes about 70,000 volunteers to staff over 4,000 locations across the United States where you can drop off your gift-filled shoeboxes. (Drop-off…
