Samaritan’s Purse Continues To Respond - TribPapers
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Samaritan’s Purse Continues To Respond

Needed supplies, such as generators, are airlifted to remote areas inaccessible by road. Photo courtesy of Samaritan's Purse.

Asheville – Although some of their specific efforts to help victims of Hurricane Helene have been scaled down as others take up the need, Samaritan’s Purse continues their incredible response in Asheville, Valdosta and Tampa. They continue to offer tangible aid for those suffering from the storm. Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization, now headed by Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham the renowned evangelist with his son, the Chief Operating Officer, Edward Graham. Samaritan’s Purse provides spiritual and physical aid to people suffering as victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine around the world (the Sudan, Ukraine, Turkey) in the name of Jesus Christ. This is a local organization that reaches out to the world with help. Their home base is in Boone with a training center outside of Asheville near Swannanoa.

Cleaning up flooded areas all around Western North Carolina is done by volunteers. Photo courtesy of Samaritan's Purse.
Cleaning up flooded areas all around Western North Carolina is done by volunteers. Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse.

Building and repairing houses, as well as replacing manufactured homes in North Carolina and Tennessee, is one of the current priorities at hand. Apparently 500 manufactured homes are being brought in to help those who have totally lost their homes, and another 500 “stick” built homes are to be built. With winter fast approaching, the need for warm shelter is badly needed.

Samaritan’s Purse organizes their volunteers, once they have signed up to participate and show them a visual orientation. This allows them be more effective and helpful. Teams for particular areas are put together with a leader and sent out with a van filled with needed equipment, such as brooms, shovels, cleaning supplies, and other essential supplies. The team all wear bright orange Samaritans Purse t-shirts, so they can find each other easily in the area. Units travel to particular areas, such as Swannanoa or Watauga County, to provide emergency relief to needed survivors. Jason Kimak, senior director of North American Ministries at Samaritan’s Purse, said “I love the opportunity to physically help and to be able to share the love of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. It is a tangible way to share with them Jesus Christ.” For this recent incredible local disaster with Hurricane Helene, there have been as many as approximately 38,000 volunteers from all around the world participating in the recovery efforts—-many of whom stay in neighboring churches, and others, at the Cove.

During this Hurricane in Western North Carolina Samaritan’s Purse coordinated the largest civilian airlift operation in U.S. history with more than 350 airlifts delivering critical supplies—-including thousands of generators, heaters, blankets, solar lights, boxes of food and bottled water-—to remote communities across 17 counties in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tenn. They flew 700,000 pounds to 800 communities. In October Samaritan’s Purse deployed 3 Community Water filtrations systems to Swannanoa and other hard hit areas. Designed by a Samaritan’s Purse team of engineers, each water system provided up to 50,000 liters of clean water daily—enough for 10,000 people. This helped fill the gap as Buncombe County worked to restore essential services.

In addition to providing clean water, the N.C.-based organization has flown supplies on 19 helicopter operations—sling loading emergency relief supplies to areas that have been cut off from basic necessities. Samaritan’s Purse has airlifted infant hygiene kits, food, water, and medical supplies to fire departments, nursing homes, and some of the most isolated and hard-hit communities. More than 2,700 volunteers have already helped over 140 families by clearing debris, mudding out flooded homes, and chainsawing downed trees. Additionally, the international Christian relief organization operated a 20-bed Emergency Field Hospital in Avery County to provide additional triage and emergency care, as well as oxygen for patients who no longer have access to power.

In early November Franklin Graham, the president of the international Christian disaster relief and evangelism organization, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem delivered hundreds of winter jackets, fleece sweaters and pants to the hard hit Bat Cave community near Chimney Rock. Unprecedented numbers of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers continue to assist homeowners with damage from Helene, reminding them of God’s love in this difficult time. Without fail, disasters will come. Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and floods strike U.S. communities every year. Samaritan’s Purse U.S. Disaster Relief teams have been ready to respond at a moment’s notice in Jesus’ Name since 1998. We thank God for our local church partners and our volunteers who have made this work in North America possible for more than two decades. as said by President Franklin Graham, “Samaritan’s Purse is here to help and we’re doing it all in Jesus’ name. We want every homeowner to know that God loves them and hasn’t forgotten them.” Volunteers are the key to our relief work in North America. It is easy to sign up to volunteer on their website samaritanspurse.org.