Samaritans Purse

Working through a network of 20 churches, Samaritan’s Purse distributed three tons of food to earthquake survivors in Concepcion, Chile, on Wednesday. Concepcion has been put under a strict curfew, but our team has been given special permission to work during restricted hours.

Concepcion, the second-largest city in Chile, is about 70 miles from the epicenter of the massive 8.8 magnitude quake that hit Saturday. A member of our Operation Christmas Child National Leadership Team has purchased food in a neighboring area and is delivering it to Concepcion for distribution Thursday. We are coordinating with missionaries in Santiago to secure more food for residents who lost everything in the disaster. (more…)

Pastor John lives in the remote village of Kalo in Central Province, PNG. In 2006, our local partner, Living Light Foursquare Church of Port Moresby took 200 Operation Christmas Child boxes and distributed them through Pastor John. News of the shoe boxes drew people in and excited children came from villages all around.

The Port Moresby church then helped the village build a church… and then they put in a water pump. This transformed life for the village in a whole new way. (more…)

1 in 8 people in the world still do not have access to safe water and that’s why Samaritan’s Purse has a goal to raise $500,000 for safe accessible water by World Water Day on March 22nd, 2010. The great news is that we have already received more than $300,000!

In 2009 this enabled us to install 1,561 BioSand Water Filters, dig 111 wells, install 2 water tanks and drill 8 bore holes. We also dug 2 ponds. With your help we were able to give 25,648 people water in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Liberia.

We are so excited at the prospects of being able to help even more people get access to safe water in 2010. Thank you for helping us as we work towards this goal.

For more information about Turn On The Tap, visit www.turnonthetap.org.au

It’s hard for us to imagine how it would be to not have safe accessible water. Sangseoun is 31 years old; he lives in Sdokprey village in Takeo province. He is married with three children. He has firsthand experience of this challenge…

“My village did not have clean water to use and so the people in the village had big problems. Many in the village were sick and we did not have water to drink. Before I was married for a time all the members in my family were sick and we did not have the money to pay for hospital fees and so they sold their rice fields. (more…)

The South Pacific Tsunami that washed away coastal villages in Samoa on September 2009, claimed at least 140 lives, and left thousands of people in need of emergency assistance. Samaritan’s Purse immediately mobilised a Disaster and Assistance Response Team (DART) that arrived on the ground within days of the Tsunami.

We partnered with Reverend Nu’uausala Siaosi and the Apia Protestant Church to assess the situation and how to best meet the needs in the affected communities. The DART team included experienced relief workers from Samaritan’s Purse in Australia, the UK, Canada and the USA. (more…)

The Apostle Paul, quoting our Saviour, gave the definitive teaching on generosity: “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35b, NKJV).

We’ve probably all experienced the truth of that saying at times in our lives. We know the warm glow that comes from choosing the perfect gift, and seeing the appreciation of a loved one when it is opened.

One of the things I most appreciate about Operation Christmas Child is that it exemplifies selfless giving. Millions of people spend their money on the items for the boxes. They spend their time carefully putting boxes together, praying for the children who will receive the gifts, and in taking them to a collection point.

They give with no expectation of getting anything in return. Most people who put together a shoe box will never know the child who receives it. They won’t see the reaction as the child excitedly opens the lid, and looks in wonder at all the gifts.

They do it because they know how blessed it is to give − especially to give something in the name of Jesus Christ. Their generosity enables a child in another part of the world to receive a tangible expression of God’s unconditional love.

All of our projects at Samaritan’s Purse depend on caring people like you who pray, serve, and give in support of this ministry to demonstrate God’s love and share the good news.

Franklin Graham

Click to see how your gifts are changing lives around the world.

Operation Christmas Child

Many innocent children are caught in poverty and hostile environments, trying to survive while constantly at risk of being exploited. Samaritan’s Purse is there to offer compassion assistance and protection. (more…)

As you may know, we ask for a donationwitheveryshoeboxtocover warehousing, transport and critical training programs for our indigenous partners who receive and distribute the shoe boxes.

This past Christmas the donations fell short and we prayed earnestly for God’s provision from our supporters and we were astonished at the generous response. Within just days, we received over $70,000!

This was a wonderfully encouraging response and demonstrates how deeply committed you are not only to the children and families who are served through Samaritan’s Purse, but also to our local partners who are so crucial to carrying out our projects. Thank you!

Tatenda Makuni, a 19-year-old girl from Zimbabwe, is passionate for Operation Christmas Child for more than one reason. As a seven year old in Zimbabwe, Tatenda received her very own shoe box!

Today she is a student at the University of Western Australia. She shared her story with our warehouse volunteers when she was volunteering in the warehouse with friends from her uni… (more…)

The street has been nicknamed Dark Street for many years. Lost in the slums of Papua New Guinea, locals knew Dark Street for its nightly gun battles between young people and the police. Mothers would lay awake listening and wondering if their older children would come home, and how many more minutes before the baby woke again from the noise.

Recently, Pastor Magi shared how for generations clans fought against other clans, passing on their hate for the individuals and families of the rival clans. The hate is so deep that the children grow up believing that if they talk to their enemy they could be killed themselves. (more…)

Just before Christmas 2009 Operation Christmas Child was able to ship 306,408 gift filled shoe boxes to children in Cambodia, Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Thailand, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

We have already begun receiving reports from the filed on this year’s distribution… like this one report from the first distributions in Papua New Guinea:

“After driving for another hour (from the first distribution outside of Port Moresby) we entered the jungle then arrived at the end of the road. The team from the Living Light Foursquare Church carried the boxes on their shoulders and eventually made it to the river’s edge where there was a dingy with a motor and we piled the boxes into the boat and began the journey up the river that wound back and forth. (more…)

In the shadow of an imposing Buddhist monastery, hundreds of students spend hours each day focusing on their schoolwork. They sit on sturdy chairs behind wooden desks, and their teachers instruct them with new blackboards and other supplies.

Just a few months ago, none of the parents in this Myanmar village dreamed their children would ever have an opportunity for a quality education.

Their previous ramshackle school building was blown apart by Cyclone Nargis’ winds last year.

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Who would of thought that Jack and Jill walking up a hill, could inspire a movement of children to fetch a pail for others.

Forget bringing in your latest action figurine, ten-year-old Cooper Winter’s class had their eyes opened when he decided to give Show and Tell with a twist.
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Every 20 seconds, one child in our world dies from water-borne illness. This would wipe out a whole primary school class – every 10 minutes.

This is one of the reasons why we are working hard to provide clean water to hundreds of needy communities around the world. Through Turn on the Tap we are intensifying our efforts to provide safe accessible water. A big thank you to each and every one of you who have already participated in the campaign.

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Dear Friend,

I know you’ll join me in celebrating the fantastic news that 303,921 children in the Asia Pacific region have been given their very own Operation Christmas Child shoe box. – Read the full story

Logistically, so many things need to come together for this program to be a success. Every link in the chain is crucial. So thank you for everything you did to make this amazing project possible! 

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