Boun Thorne grew up in a boat village in the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia. In the aftermath of a terrible situation, she moved at age 10 to a safe house where she received Bible teaching and an Operation Christmas Child shoebox—her first gift ever! When Boun inquired why someone would send her a gift,…
Operation Christmas Child
Reaching the Deaf Community in the Country of Georgia
Pastor Paata has a big goal: to reach every family that includes a deaf person in the country of Georgia with the Good News of Jesus Christ. And he’s found a great tool to start conversations with deaf children or a hearing child of deaf parents—Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Paata, who is deaf, said…
Operation Christmas Child
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…
Operation Christmas Child
Press Release Operation Christmas Child November 14, 2022
DROP-OFF SITES OPEN FOR OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD Boone, N.C.—As the Thanksgiving season approaches, many families and children are giving thanks and giving back—to children in need around the world through Operation Christmas Child. Shoebox gifts prepared by generous donors and filled with toys, hygiene items, and school supplies may be dropped off now during National…
Crisis & Disaster Response
‘The Heavens Were Opened’
Atop a rocky, clay-dirt hill on the outskirts of Cúcuta, Colombia, you can cast your gaze across an invisible border and see beyond the river to the towns of San Antonio and Ureña in Venezuela. Walk down the main road from this humble peak and hang a left. Descend an unreasonably steep but paved slope…
Operation Christmas Child
Transformed for Ministry
The news was cancer and, with no remedy, Genaro began to worsen and slide into despair. But this was not the end of his story. With a wave of prayers behind him from his father and his rural community in Mexico, the Lord miraculously healed Genaro of his illness and called him into ministry with…
Our Ministry
Franklin Graham’s Journey From Lost to Spreading Hope
By Beth Brelje | Originally Published in The Epoch Times May 02, 2024. Updated: May 06, 2024. Used with permission. BOONE, N.C.—A bird is thumping into the window of Rev. Franklin Graham’s office at Samaritan’s Purse international headquarters in Boone, North Carolina. He says it happens every spring, and he doesn’t know why, but this…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Tapping into the Power of Serving
Gracie O’Loughlin regularly witnesses groups working shoulder-to-shoulder for a common purpose as part of her role with Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse that shares the Gospel with children around the world through outreach events and shoebox gifts. When she and several colleagues recently volunteered with U.S. Disaster Relief, another project of Samaritan’s…
Our Ministry
Mid-Year Report
Mid-Year Impact Report July 2021 Thank You COVID-19 U.S. Disaster Relief Tigray Conflict Response Bahamas Global Work Thank You Following the example set by the Good Samaritan, Samaritan's Purse provides help to people who are suffering and living in desperate circumstances. We seek them out in communities torn apart by tornadoes, on difficult migrant trails snaking…
Construction Projects
Warming in Koyuk
Warming in Koyuk Samaritan's Purse staff and volunteers built a church in the remote village of Koyuk over the summer of 2023. Explore village and church life in this special place up north in Alaska. God's Country Up north in Alaska, where the forests and the tundra can swallow two states the size of Texas,…
