Waightstill and Dawn Avery neared the end of a challenging year after losing a precious family member when Hurricane Helene ripped through their community in Newland, North Carolina. Christmas tree farmers and construction workers by trade, the couple not only lost all of the contents of their home to four feet of mud and rainwater,…
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
Samaritan’s Purse Airlifts Field Hospital to Alaska
Samaritan’s Purse airlifted a 30-bed Emergency Field Hospital and critical medical supplies to King Salmon, Alaska, on June 1 in advance of a possible COVID-19 outbreak. The threat is expected to significantly rise this summer as more than 10,000 fishermen and cannery workers from around the world descend upon the Bristol Bay region. Many of…
Discipleship, Education & Training
Military Couples Press Forward with God
Here’s what military couples said they were leaving behind in Alaska: Their anger Their doubt Their excuses Their resentment Their negativity Their isolation Their old self Their regrets Their pain Their anxieties Operation Heal Our Patriots Week 16 ended with this emotional time around the camp fire pit as ten husbands and ten wives shared—often…
Operation Christmas Child
Fact Sheet: Pacific Island Initiative
Pacific Island Initiative Overview The goal of the 5-year Pacific Island Initiative is for all children ages 2–14 across the Pacific to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and receive an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift at an Outreach Event hosted by a local church Ministry Partner. At this Outreach Event they will also…
Operation Christmas Child
Operation Christmas Child Audio PSA’s
Audio PSA's Our PSAs are available for use by media outlets and websites in the United States. Unless a kill date is noted, PSAs can be aired indefinitely. If you would like to automatically receive new PSAs from Samaritan's Purse, please email PSA@samaritan.org with your request. National Collection Week Promo with Dates Flight Dates: Before…
Media
Press Release Samaritan’s Purse Helping Suffering Families in Kentucky and West Virginia After Deadly Flooding
Samaritan's Purse Helping Suffering Families in Kentucky and West Virginia After Deadly Flooding BOONE, N.C., Feb. 22, 2025—Samaritan's Purse deployed disaster relief specialists last weekend, along with a Disaster Relief Unit—a tractor-trailer stocked with essential tools and equipment—to Pikeville, Kentucky, following a historic storm system that unleashed deadly flooding across southern Appalachia. In Kentucky, all…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Strong Finish in Georgia
Multiple twisters with winds up to 150 miles per hour tore through Spalding County in mid-January, damaging more than 2,000 properties in the Griffin area. Just two days later, Samaritan’s Purse set up a base camp at Oak Hill Church in nearby Williamson. This past Friday (March 17), our U.S. disaster relief team completed more…
Love Overflows in Eastern Kentucky
The strewn debris and trash still hanging from the barren trees in Brandt Justice’s backyard stand as stark reminders of how high the waters rose when floods ravaged his small Kentucky community last week. In the early hours of Feb. 16, the small tributary behind his home suddenly swelled and climbed to the tips of…
Operation Christmas Child
Christian Leaders in Guam Are Excited About Operation Christmas Child
Guam, the westernmost territory of the United States, is a rich blend of various cultures. Located in the north Pacific—about 1,500 miles east of the Philippines—Guam’s 168,000 citizens include the island’s native Chamorros, along with a melting-pot population from the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Australia, the mainland U.S., Europe, and various other Micronesian islands.…
