Hurricane Helene damaged the bridge that Tina Palmer used every day to get to her Deep Gap, North Carolina, home on the other side of a creek. Since the September 2024 storm, she has been afraid to even walk over the faltering structure, much less drive across it. Samaritan’s Purse U.S. Disaster Relief recently came…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Helping a Pastor Who Lost Nearly Everything in Hurricane Helene
Pastor Charles English was at home with one of his daughters when Ivy Creek became a torrent of boulders, trees, and exploding propane tanks—common elements for most stories about Hurricane Helene’s destructive path through the mountains. Charles and his wife, Sadie, have lived five decades in Barnardsville, North Carolina, along a normally idyllic branch of…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Love Arrives After the Storm
Among the ruined items Michael Dixon pulled out of his dresser—soaked certificates, destroyed books, precious photos—he discovered a small keychain. Holding it up to the sunlight streaming through his window, a smile crept onto his face. “Sevierville. 1991. Howard’s restaurant. Our honeymoon,” he said, gazing at the two-inch photo of him and his wife, Nancy,…
Franklin Graham
Newsletter October 2024
Franklin Graham Update | October Franklin Graham Update | October Helping Helene Victims, Ready to Respond in Florida Dear Friend, Hurricane Helene will go down in history as one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the United States mainland. Two weeks later, Hurricane Milton reached Category 5. As I write this, Milton is threatening the West Coast of Florida—already battered by Helene—and…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Volunteers Serve a Carolina Family Mourning Terrible Loss
Nothing remained where her sister’s home once stood. No furniture, clothes, or kitchen dishes. Anna Wiebe and her husband, Ryan, stood in silence as they stared at the expanse of water that now consumed the family’s property. Neither knew what to say. “I was numb and in disbelief. I couldn’t believe that this was happening,”…
Franklin Graham
Newsletter November 2024
Franklin Graham Update | November Franklin Graham Update | November A MASSIVE AIRLIFT & AN ARMY OF ORANGE RUSH TO THE FRONTLINES Dear Friend, In the weeks following Hurricane Helene, the "whomp-whomp-whomp" of helicopters echoed across the mountains of western North Carolina, reassuring desperate survivors that help and hope were on the way. Four National Guard Chinooks, three ex-Army Blackhawks, and several private…
Operation Christmas Child
Shoebox Packers Go From Devastation to Celebration
She peered through a busted window into the church basement and saw that floodwaters from Hurricane Helene had left a muddy mess. The Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift items that First Baptist Church of Damascus, Virginia, had collected during the year were now wet and filthy. Jaz, age 11, saw something that gave her hope—a…
Crisis & Disaster Response
President Donald Trump and Franklin Graham Meet Hurricane Survivors in North Carolina
Only days after his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, President Donald Trump accompanied Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham on Friday to Buncombe County, North Carolina, to see our ongoing Hurricane Helene relief efforts. President Trump and Graham visited homeowners in the hard-hit area, assessing needs and sharing words of encouragement as…
Helping the Hurricane-Ravaged Florida Coast
Diane Pangburn had lived under a roof of blue tarp and damaged shingles since Hurricane Ian tore across her Florida community in 2022. When Hurricane Milton roared ashore in early October, it shredded that covering and torrential rain was channeled into her home. Milton, following so closely after Hurricane Helene, left many areas underwater. Bewildered…
