The Dyson Family packed a shoe box for a girl in need for the 2009 Operation Chrstmas Child Campaign. Julie – the girl who received the box had it handed to her by the people from Living Light Foursquare church in Port Moresby. See how Julie and the Dyson Family react when the box is opened!
“A big smile on her face – how do you compare with that?” (more…)
At the Vaturekuka Prison in Labasa, Fiji, more than 80 children of inmates received Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes at a special ceremony their fathers were able to attend.
Prison Supervisor Manasa Rakabikabi presented the gifts to the children during the Christmas celebration inside the prison walls. “These men all belong to a family, village, church and community,” he said. “So they should be loved and accepted when they are discharged.” (more…)
Dear Friend,
My name is Pannawadee Amm. I’m very glad to receive the present that you give us. I like every pieces in the box especially the dolls because I never got any before. My mother went to give her thanks to the teachers at the church because she doesn’t have money to buy them and she is very thankful. I’m really happy and I will hug the dolls every night before going to bed. Now I and mother started to go to church because I feel that people there love me and every other child.
I thank you with all my heart. (more…)
“Channa” was 14 when she was sent to Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh to earn extra income for her mother’s medical treatments. Desperate for work, she found a job at a bar.
Channa had always refused lewd offers from male patrons, but when her family continually pressured her to earn more, she thought she had no alternative. For a full year, Channa engaged in commercial sex work and desperately wanted out. Neighbours began looking down on her. And her dreams of a happy future seemed spoiled. “I thought I was an animal, a slave,” she said. (more…)
For most of his adult life, 59-year-old Ly Sreng has struggled to accomplish even the most routine of tasks. Wounded and disabled as a soldier during Pol Pot’s regime, Ly has been forced to rely on a wheelchair for the past three decades. And not only that, he and his family struggle for survival in a poor village in Cambodia – which means their access to clean, safe drinking water has been severely limited.
Ly recently shared with Samaritan’s Purse, “It was very difficult to have access to water sources because they were far away. Besides this, the price to build a well was expensive, so I normally used my wheelchair to collect water from a pond which was 1 kilometer away from my house. (more…)
A new fear gripped thousands of homeless families in Haiti when an evening downpour drenched makeshift tent camps across the Port-au-Prince area. It’s April and the rainy season has begun.
As the rains increase, people living under old sheets and scraps of plastic face a dilemma. They can stay outside and try not to get soaked, or seek shelter in earthquake-damaged homes and buildings that are ready to collapse. Sickness brought on by exposure and the spread of disease are also major concerns. (more…)
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…)
As of World Water Day 2010 we have now raised over $540,000 for Turn On The Tap. This is enough to give 32,786 people access to safe drinking water. Thank you for helping us reach this goal!
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.
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…)
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