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
Bridging the Gap in the Wake of Hurricane Helene
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
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,”…
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
Water Filtration Systems Deployed to the Asheville Area
Samaritan’s Purse is once again expanding relief efforts in western North Carolina with the deployment of community water filtration systems to the town of Swannanoa and other hard-hit areas. Designed by a Samaritan’s Purse team of engineers, each water system can provide up to 50,000 liters of clean water daily—enough for 10,000 people. These units…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Finding Joy in Jesus After the Storm
Winds roared through Scott’s quiet neighborhood in the heart of Valdosta, Georgia, as Hurricane Helene pushed north past Florida and into the Peach State. In the dark night sky, the towering pines overhead crashed down onto his house, bursting through the ceiling as he and his wife, Terri, huddled in the bathroom. “If you look…
Crisis & Disaster Response
An Orange Wave of Help Arrives for Swannanoa
Steve struggled to keep his pickup truck driving straight on a road he couldn’t see. When the evacuation alert had sounded just minutes earlier, he had woken his 15-year-old son Aiden, and the pair had dashed out of their house. Now they were fighting to find safety as the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene swallowed…
