Abiakwa’s world had been growing darker for years. Her vision had been failing in one eye since she was very young, and in recent years it had finally closed behind clouds of scar tissue. Her parents had always told her it began when she fell off the unattended cassava mortar, a very large wooden cauldron…
Operation Christmas Child
Press Release Operation Christmas Child July 07-28-21
Giving Multiplied with Back-to-School Sales BOONE, N.C., July 28, 2021—As the new school year approaches, Operation Christmas Child shoebox packers are making use of back-to-school prices to purchase gifts and essential items for children in need overseas. Participants are collecting school supplies, along with hygiene items and fun toys, to pack in shoeboxes. Samaritan's Purse will…
Operation Christmas Child
Roselyn and a Picture Book
Roselyn and a Picture Book "My life felt gray. But when my shoebox came, it was full of color." Growing up in Malawi, I loved playing make-believe. That’s what my siblings and I did because we didn’t have any dolls or toys. We would go outside after it rained and mold the clay-type soil into…
Operation Christmas Child
Young Central Asian Shepherds Receive Shoebox Gifts
A simple drive through the countryside can become something special. Yusif*, a volunteer leader in Central Asia with Operation Christmas Child, was traveling with several team members to a ministry meeting when he spotted two shepherd boys tending their flock near the highway. Remembering that he had some gift-filled shoeboxes as well as copies of…
Operation Christmas Child
Discipling Children in the Dumps of Cambodia
Samnang* comes from a family of scavengers, also known as waste pickers—people who earn a meager living by collecting recyclable materials from garbage dumps, streets, and landfills of Cambodia. But God used the new items inside the shoebox gift she received at age 13 to help draw her to a relationship with Christ. Today, she…
Operation Christmas Child
Nancy and a Photograph
Nancy and a Photograph “Through that picture in my shoebox gift, God’s love became tangible and real to me.” I grew up in the Middle East with four siblings and my parents, who worked really hard to take care of us. We lived close to a mountain and it was far away from everything. We…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Hungering for More
Five million Venezuelans have fled their own country since 2015. Nearly 2 million have entered Colombia. Scroll for More Samaritan’s Purse is there to provide food and shelter for those who’ve left everything behind. Hungering for More: Helping Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia Colombia Relief 014041 $ Give Hope Desperate need drives this historic exodus. Many of the migrants are…
Operation Christmas Child
Processing Center Season Photos
Processing Center Season 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. Processing center staff and volunteers pray over cartons of inspected shoebox gifts before they leave the warehouse. Volunteers…
Operation Christmas Child
Alina and a Music Box
Alina and a Music Box Alina received her shoebox at an orphanage in Romania at age 12. When I was just over a year old, doctors told my mother that I would never be able to walk. Not knowing how to care for me, my mother left me in a hospital. Thanks to doctors and…
Operation Christmas Child
Nanor and a Doll
Nanor and a Doll "God planted a seed of faith in my heart when I received my shoebox." Nanor received a shoebox in the Middle East as a child. I will never forget the day that I received my shoebox. I still remember every gift in it. I’ve kept the box to this day. It…
