Samaritan’s Purse

When a hurricane flattens a street or a war empties a town, this is one of the first Christian organisations on the ground. Samaritan’s Purse has worked since 1970 in more than a hundred countries, with disaster teams, emergency field hospitals, and doctors sent through World Medical Mission.

Most people meet it through Operation Christmas Child — a shoebox packed with small gifts, given to a child with the Gospel. Since 1993 more than 244 million boxes have been delivered to over 175 countries and territories, and 12.2 million were collected in 2025 alone. Every child who receives one is offered a twelve-lesson discipleship course called The Greatest Journey, in their own language.

It was founded by Bob Pierce — the same man who had founded World Vision twenty years earlier — and has been led by Franklin Graham since 1979. The published budget for 2025 is $1.37 billion.

• Founded
  1970
• Founder
  Bob Pierce, who had earlier founded World Vision
• Led by
  Franklin Graham, president and chief executive since 1979
• Behind it
  An independent 501(c)(3) charity, with affiliate offices in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Korea
• Based in
  Boone, North Carolina, USA — PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607
• Reach
  More than 100 countries, with field offices in 15 of them. The stated 2025 budget is $1.37 billion
• Languages
  English. The Gospel booklet given with each shoebox is printed in the child’s own language
• Cost
  Nothing to receive help. Giving is voluntary; the shoebox project asks for $10 a box toward shipping
• You get
  U.S. and international disaster relief, emergency field hospitals, World Medical Mission, Operation Christmas Child, Operation Heal Our Patriots, the Children’s Heart Project
• Shoebox figures
  244+ million gifts since 1993, to 175+ countries and territories. 12.2 million collected in 2025, of which 10.9 million came from the United States
• Discipleship
  The Greatest Journey — a 12-lesson course for children who receive a box. More than 52 million enrolled since 2009. $6 pays for one child’s lessons and New Testament
• Medical work
  World Medical Mission: 16,000+ service assignments since 1980, in 82 countries and 45+ hospitals and clinics
• How to join
  Volunteer at spvolunteer.org, at a shoebox processing centre, or on a medical team. Jobs and internships at careers.samaritanspurse.org
• Polish
  There is no Samaritan’s Purse office in Poland, and boxes are collected in only 11 countries, Poland not among them. Poland is on the receiving side: shoeboxes have been handed to Ukrainian refugee children there since 2014, and the 200 millionth box was flown into Poland in 2022
• Contact
  +1 828-262-1980 · samaritanspurse.org

Samaritan’s Purse does not sponsor or endorse Embassy of the Kingdom, and we are not affiliated with them. We list them because we checked them and would put them in a friend’s hands. If you lead a ministry and would like to be considered, or believe something here should be corrected, write to us — we read every message ourselves.