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…
Operation Christmas Child
Zac’s Story: Coming Full Circle from Fiji
Zac and a Jump Rope Please enable Javascript to watch this video “Somebody thought of me.” Zac and his four siblings grew up playing with sticks and stones in his home country of Fiji. They played with what was available because exchanging gifts wasn’t common in their culture. And, for the family of seven, they…
Franklin Graham
Newsletter August
Franklin Graham Update | August Kentucky Suffers Another Tragedy Dear Friend, More deadly storms have ravaged Kentucky. Eight months after tornadoes tore through the western end of the state, catastrophic summer storms have flooded mountain communities hundreds of miles to the east, taking at least 37 lives. The devastation is so overwhelming that officials are still trying to account for…
Operation Christmas Child Espanol
Volunteer at a Drop-off Location (es)
Sirve como Voluntario en un Drop-off Location Semana Nacional de Recolección En cerca de 5,000 lugares en toda la nación, hay voluntarios que dan la bienvenida y oran con las personas que entregan cajas para Operation Christmas Child. Otros voluntarios llenan contenedores y cargan camiones con las millones de cajas que, en oración, anticipamos recibir.…
50 Years of Ministry
Discipling Boys and Girls through The Greatest Journey
After 16 years of collecting and delivering Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts, Samaritan’s Purse launched its own follow-up discipleship program for the boys and girls who receive them. In 2009, this 12-lesson course called The Greatest Journey started at Good Shepherd Church in Pifo, Ecuador, located just outside of Quito, and today has grown to…
Discipleship, Education & Training
Veteran Couple Finds Forgiveness, Freedom in Christ While in Alaska
Army Corporal Hamilton Kinard’s 15-month deployment to Iraq was a turning point in his military career. At age 19, he had joined the military “to make my dad happy. I hadn’t done much with my life up to that point and I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to help somebody.” In 2005, as…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Homeowner Receives Christ as Volunteers Clean Up After Flooding
Samaritan’s Purse volunteer teams are at work in La Plata and Archuleta counties in Colorado after the remnants of two tropical systems brought torrential rainfall on Oct. 11. As levees broke upstream, water rushed down the mountains, carving channels through streets and neighborhoods. Hundreds of homes were affected. Dianne Paxton was forced to evacuate as…
Our Ministry
Newsletter July 2025
Franklin Graham Update | July Franklin Graham Update | July Tragedy in Texas Guadalupe River Flooding Takes Deadly Toll Dear Friend, During a holiday weekend that was supposed to be filled with celebration, Texas families were hit with unimaginable loss. Flash floods along the Guadalupe River overwhelmed parts of the Hill Country early on Friday, July 4, sweeping away vehicles, camp cabins, and homes.…
Operation Christmas Child
Transportation Photos
Transportation These photographs are available for news media outlet use in coverage of Samaritan's Purse-related stories. If your news outlet uses a photograph, please credit: "Courtesy of Samaritan's Purse." These photographs are not for commercial use. This tractor and trailer in Cambodia help get shoebox gifts to children in rural parts of Cambodia. Operation Christmas Child…
Devastating Flood Leads to a Revived Heart
After floodwaters washed through Aretha Robertson’s neighborhood, an army of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers showed up at her Wisconsin home to help salvage mementos and remove waterlogged belongings. “From the second that they stood on my grass, it felt warm,” she said. “It made me feel like it was going to be OK.” Aretha had faced…
