Samaritan’s Purse recently welcomed our final group of military veterans and their spouses to Alaska for the close of the 2021 Operation Heal Our Patriots summer season. Nine couples experienced the wilderness of Alaska, participated in Biblically-based marriage classes, and had the opportunity to connect with God and each other. Former Army Staff Sergeant Mike…
Nine Children Take Special Flight Home to Mongolia After Life-Saving Heart Surgeries
Nine mothers, along with their nine children, boarded the Samaritan’s Purse DC-8 aircraft this morning in Greensboro, North Carolina, happy to be heading home to Mongolia after spending the last several months in North America. They came as part of our Children’s Heart Project to correct congenital heart defects in their little ones. Most came…
She Received a Shoebox Gift in Ecuador, Now She’s Giving Them to Others
Diana grew up in Patate, a mountainous region of central Ecuador, in the shadow of the Tungurahua volcano that towers over the province. Her family was poor, so when birthdays and Christmas rolled around each year she would receive well wishes but never a present. Her parents didn’t attend church, but her big sister did.…
Spreading Good News and Great Joy in Cambodia
Franklin Graham joined local church leaders in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with boys and girls while delivering gift-filled shoeboxes to them at a recent Operation Christmas Child outreach event in Cambodia’s capital. Eight-year-old Votey received a shoebox, making her one of more than 1 million children in Cambodia to receive such a gift…
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…
Pointing Children to Jesus in Slovakia
Katarina Horvathova used to live a nomadic life. But while she and her son, Daniel, lived in a shelter for a number of years, Daniel had the privilege of receiving a gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. His 8-year-old heart delighted in the toy airplane he found inside because he wanted to become a pilot…
World War II Veteran Sews Hundreds of Quilts for Children’s Shoebox Gifts
Former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Theron Jennings, 98, lives alone in a Savoy, Illinois, apartment where he sews quilts for children around the world. Since 2014, he has handmade more than 400 of these blankets, completing 160 in just the last year. Each one is lovingly packed into a shoebox gift with other toys and…
Press Release Operation Christmas Child August 30, 2022
Fact Sheet: Samaritan’s Purse
A Boy Called Marvellous
Marvellous ran for his life when gunfire erupted. He and his family were trying to flee their homeland in Central Africa where Christians were being persecuted for their faith. As they boarded a crowded bus together, the family heard the gunfire. Running in the opposite direction than his family, the then 6-year-old—and youngest of four…