The last thing Natalie heard was a mortar round exploding and her husband shouting, “We’re taking incoming.” Then, the phone line went dead. Natalie wondered if that was the last time she’d hear his voice. Natalie endured many restless days and nights while her husband, Army Sergeant Eddie Shanks, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.…
Venezuelan Migrants Welcomed at Samaritan’s Purse Shelter in Colombia
Each day, hundreds of people flee from Venezuela crossing into Cucuta, Colombia. Many of them have no plans to return home; instead they’ve chosen to leave behind their nation’s economic collapse and take their chances on starting a new life in a new country. Some of these men and women become los caminantes, or “the…
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Samaritan’s Purse Deploys Emergency Field Hospital to New York City
Update: The Emergency Field Hospital is now up and running in New York City. Read about the Central Park opening in our most recent article. — Staff members are quickly setting up an Emergency Field Hospital in East Meadow in New York City’s Central Park to provide care for patients seriously ill with COVID-19. A…
Armored Ambulances Provided to Magen David Adom
On Sept. 19, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham was in Avshalom, Israel, on the Gaza border, to donate two armored ambulances to Magen David Adom (MDA), the nation’s emergency services system. These vehicles were given in memory of three individuals killed by Hamas. Members of the bereaved families of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage…
Faith Restored
The two Army medics were ready to quit their marriage and had a hard time remembering why they’d bothered applying to go to Alaska with Samaritan’s Purse. Just a couple weeks before Army Sergeant First Class Jason Smith and Army Specialist Amy Smith were scheduled to leave for Operation Heal Our Patriots, they delivered the…
A Christmas Celebration at the Greta Home!
Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham along with journalist Greta Van Susteren and her husband John Coale joined residents and students of the Greta Home and Academy for an exciting Christmas celebration in Haiti on Dec. 18. During this annual Christmastime tradition, students presented a special program recounting the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth. In addition,…
Texas Teen Crochets for Girls Around the World
During National Collection Week two years ago, Alathia Purtell formed what even she thought was an impossible dream—to produce 2,000 crocheted purses for Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Alathia, then 12, was visiting her maternal grandparents in Canton, Texas, when she went with her grandmother Sue to her church’s shoebox drop-off location. There, Alathia saw…
Children’s Heart Project Medical Volunteer
Clean Water Initiatives Help Keep Children Healthy
When Than was in elementary school she had to take turns with the other children carrying water from a well about 20 minutes away. The well was the only clean water source for the school, so every week a different team of students made several trips to bring back drinking water for their classmates. Now,…






























