Operation Christmas Child
Pacific Islands Initiative Press Kit
Media Resources Media Requests Articles & Stories Fact Sheets Approved Quotes Photos B-roll Pacific Islands Initiative Press Kit An Operation Christmas Child initiative is bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to isolated island nations. The goal of the five-year Pacific Island Initiative is for all children ages 2–14 across the Pacific to have the…
Media
Biography: Ruth Bell Graham
Ruth Bell Graham Born June 10, 1920 Qingjiang, Kiangsu, China Died June 14, 2007, age 87 Montreat, North Carolina Parents L. Nelson Bell (died 1973) Virginia Leftwich Bell (died 1974) Married William F. "Billy" Graham Jr. 1943 Children Virginia "Gigi" Graham, 1945 Anne Graham Lotz, 1948 Ruth Graham, 1950 William "Franklin" Graham III, 1952 Nelson…
Media
Biography: Billy Graham
Billy Graham William F. "Billy" Graham Jr. Born Nov. 7, 1918 Charlotte, North Carolina Died Feb. 21, 2018 Montreat, North Carolina Parents William Franklin Graham Sr. (died 1962) Morrow Coffey Graham (died 1981) Married Ruth McCue Bell in 1943 (died June 14, 2007, age 87) Education 1943 B.A., Wheaton College—Wheaton, Illinois 1940 Graduated, Florida Bible Institute (now…
Health & Medical Ministries
Franklin and Edward Graham Celebrate God’s Work at Tenwek
Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham and his youngest son, Samaritan’s Purse COO Edward Graham, gathered March 4 with faculty and staff of Tenwek Hospital in Bomet, Kenya, north of Nairobi. The group toured Tenwek’s new state-of-the-art cardiothoracic surgical center, which, in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, was completed Oct. 24 of last year. The need for…
Samaritan’s Purse Dedicates First Home in Hurricane Helene Rebuild
In the same front yard where Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters tore through their quiet western North Carolina neighborhood, Benny and Keeva Messer stood on June 2 praising God for a brand-new home built in Jesus’ Name, from the foundation below to the shingles above. “Today we are going to celebrate and rejoice,” said Luther Harrison, vice…
Crisis & Disaster Response
First Mobile Homes Given to Hurting Families After Helene
Lidia Gomez escaped with her family as floodwaters, mud, and debris filled their Buncombe County, North Carolina, community last September. When they returned in the wake of Helene’s destruction, their mobile home was unrecognizable—filled with water and pierced by a tree that had crashed through the roof. In the following days, the home became filled…
Media
Press Release: Samaritan’s Purse Deploys Emergency Field Hospital to Venezuela After Deadly Earthquakes; 767 Cargo Plane Departs Tomorrow
Samaritan’s Purse Deploys Emergency Field Hospital to Venezuela After Deadly Earthquakes; 767 Cargo Plane Departs Tomorrow BOONE, N.C., June 26, 2026—Samaritan’s Purse is responding in Venezuela after deadly back-to-back earthquakes rocked the nation. Disaster response specialists are on the way and the ministry’s 767 cargo plane will airlift life-saving supplies to the Latin American country…
Media
Press Release: Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital Opens in Venezeula, Treating Earthquake Injuries
Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital Opens in Venezeula, Treating Earthquake Injuries BOONE, N.C., June 30, 2026—Today, international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse accepted its first patients at the Emergency Field Hospital in La Guaira, Venezuela. Back-to-back deadly earthquakes rocked the region last week, killing more than 1,700 people and leaving thousands of families displaced and…
Operation Christmas Child
Graham Family Participates in Operation Christmas Child Pacific Push
Franklin Graham presented a bold vision to the Operation Christmas Child team late last year (2018): Deliver gift-filled shoeboxes in Jesus’ Name to every child on 1,000 Pacific islands—more than half a million kids. He believed those island nations and the children who live on them had been forgotten, but he was determined that would…
Edward Graham Encourages New Yorkers After Flooding
Not in 40 years had Dexter Bunte seen such devastation in his community of Highland Falls, New York. Until July 9 the stream that ran by his house was merely a harmless feature adding to the area’s quaint beauty. “It was a babbling brook. My kids used to get excited when it would rise a…
