The Samaritan's Purse president visited the Caribbean nation to see our relief efforts. COO Edward Graham and Liberty University leadership and students delivered shoebox gifts.
Franklin Graham greets medical staff inside the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in Black River, thanking them for their tireless service to families recovering from Hurricane Melissa.
Franklin Graham met with storm survivors in Jamaica on Sunday in Black River. Earlier in the weekend, our DC-8 aircraft carried more than 9,000 Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts to the island for children affected by Hurricane Melissa. It was the final mission for this historic aircraft.
Franklin Graham visited Black River and other communities in Jamaica’s southwest where a Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has been serving the island nation since Hurricane Melissa made landfall in October. Graham also visited the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital opened in Black River, near where the storm made landfall, and other sites in the region.
“Today I was in Jamaica at the Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital and went to our clean water supply points as well as communities where we are helping families get tarps for their roofs to keep the rain out after Hurricane Melissa,” Franklin Graham said. “There is still so much suffering and need. People have been without power for 40 days. Every home in Black River was damaged or completely destroyed by Hurricane Melissa. One man I met was so thankful to have his roof tarped and said it was the first dry night he had spent since the hurricane!”
Franklin Graham visits a hurricane-damaged neighborhood in southwest Jamaica, listening to residents and seeing the widespread destruction that Hurricane Melissa left behind.
Our Emergency Field Hospital in Black River and mobile medical units have now treated more than 3,300 patients. The hospital has performed close to 80 surgeries. Large-scale community water treatment systems installed by Samaritan’s Purse have produced over 160,000 gallons of clean water. We also have distributed tens of thousands of relief items to families, including shelter materials, household water filters, solar lights, hygiene kits, and more than 5,000 Bibles. More than 25,000 families so far have been helped in Jesus’ Name.
“I thank God for our incredible team serving in Jamaica, and it was good to spend time with them,” Franklin Graham said. “They have come from all around the world to serve with Samaritan’s Purse in Jesus’ Name.”
Edward Graham and Liberty and Students and Shoebox Gifts
Samaritan’s Purse COO Edward Graham travled to Jamaica on Friday accompanied by students from Liberty University; Liberty University President Maj. Gen. Dondi E. Costin, U.S. Air Force (ret.); Liberty Chancellor Jonathan Falwell; and journalist Greta Van Susteren.
Edward Graham, joined by Jonathan Falwell and other Liberty University leadership, helps distribute Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts to children in Black River as families continue recovering from Hurricane Melissa.
Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts—packed with toys, school supplies, and personal care items—were distributed to children who lost much during the storm, reminding them that God loves them and they are not forgotten. The more than 9,000 shoeboxes onboard our DC-8 were packed by Liberty University students, faculty, and staff, along with members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, where Jonathan Falwell serves as pastor.
Jonathan Falwell helps distribute Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts to children in Jamaica, reminding young families recovering from Hurricane Melissa that God loves them and has not forgotten them.
“For the second time since Hurricane Melissa, I was grateful to travel down to Jamaica,” Edward Graham said. “I was with our friends Greta Van Susteren, [Liberty University] President Dondi Costin, Chancellor Jonathan Falwell, and an amazing group of Liberty University students and staff. Samaritan’s Purse was thankful for their desire to be a part of giving Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to Jamaican families and children.”
Edward Graham and the team helped local Operation Christmas Child leaders in Black River providing shoebox gifts to excited children.They also met with longtime Operation Christmas Child church partners who will help distribute the thousands of shoebox gifts.
Samaritan’s Purse and Liberty University leaders celebrate the final mission of the DC-8 alongside students and team members. The historic aircraft—retired after a decade of humanitarian service—will be donated to Liberty University to support its nationally recognized School of Aeronautics.
This final DC-8 mission marks the end of a decade of service for the Samaritan’s Purse aircraft, which delivered more than 9.2 million pounds of emergency aid on 219 missions to disaster zones around the world. Commissioned in 2015, the DC-8 is the last U.S.-registered aircraft of its kind still in service and was our primary heavy-lift aircraft. It came off the assembly line in 1968.
Its final flight was to Lynchburg, Virginia, where the historic aircraft will be on display, donated by Samaritan’s Purse to Liberty University as part of the school’s nationally recognized aviation program. It will serve as an enduring reminder of how God can use aviation to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Please continue praying for families recovering from Hurricane Melissa and for our teams serving across Jamaica in Jesus’ Name.
Liberty University students and leadership join Samaritan’s Purse leaders and the DC-8 flight crew in prayer, thanking God for the aircraft’s decade of life-saving missions.
