Samaritan's Purse describes itself as a non-denominational evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that works worldwide to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people suffering from war, poverty, disaster, disease, famine, and persecution. The organization’s president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham.
Name
The name of the organization is based on the New Testament Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus uses a parable to teach people the Great Commandment - how to "love thy neighbour as thyself" .
Locations
Samaritan’s Purse works in more than 100 countries around the world. International headquarters are in Boone, North Carolina, with additional U.S. facilities in Charlotte and North Wilkesboro, N.C. Affiliate offices are in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Field offices are located in some 20 countries across five continents.
History
Bob Pierce founded Samaritan’s Purse in 1970 with a vision “to meet emergency needs in crisis areas through existing evangelical mission agencies and national churches.” Pierce had previously founded World Vision in 1950.
Franklin Graham met Pierce in 1973, and they made several trips together to visit relief projects and missionary partners in Asia and elsewhere. Graham became president of Samaritan's Purse in 1979 following Pierce’s death in 1978.
As the organization grew, Samaritan’s Purse not only funded mission partners but also began to develop its own large-scale relief projects: • Providing medical care in the midst of conflicts in Somalia in 1993, Rwanda in 1994, Sudan since 1997, Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan in 2002, and Iraq in 2003. • Rebuilding or repairing thousands of houses following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the El Salvador earthquakes in 2002, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. • Chartering emergency airlifts to Indonesia and Pakistan in 2005, North Korea in 2007, and Myanmar and China in 2008. • Distributing food to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Uganda and Darfur.
Mission statement
The organisation's mission statement claims to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people suffering from war, poverty, disaster, disease, famine, and persecution famine with the purpose of global missionary work attendant on humanitarian aid. The organization aims at service for the Church worldwide to propagate the Gospel of the christian god, of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Samaritan’s Purse claims to specialize in emergency relief, shelter, water and sanitation, food and nutrition, medical care and public health, HIV/AIDS, and community-based livestock and livelihood projects. Its accounts seem to contradict this claim.
Ongoing programs
In addition to responding to emergencies worldwide, Samaritan’s Purse includes several ongoing ministries.
• The missionary and humanitary outreach programs of Samaritan’s Purse include Operation Christmas Child, a global Christmas gift exchange for children; and World Medical Mission. It opens thousands of locations, many of them at churches, each November to collect shoe boxes filled with Christmas gifts and money. Operation Christmas Child collects and distributes Christmas gifts to millions of children each year. Gift boxes are collected in North America, Europe, and Australia by people who pack them with toys, school supplies, personal items, and other gifts. From 1993 through 2008, some 69 million gift boxes have been handed out in more than 130 countries.
• Disaster Relief responds to emergency situations wherever they strike. In the United States and Canada, Samaritan’s Purse mobilizes teams of volunteers and provides the materials, equipment, and expertise to repair houses damaged by natural disasters. The organization has four tractor-trailer units loaded with emergency supplies and equipment. Each can serve as a self-contained base in a disaster zone.
• World Medical Mission , the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse, was founded in 1977 by brothers Dr. Richard Furman and Dr. Lowell Furman to enable doctors to serve short-term assignments at overwhelmed missionary hospitals. Each year, hundreds of doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals volunteer for trips that typically last a month. The Post-Residency Program supports physicians as they serve two-year terms in mission hospitals and consider becoming career missionaries. World Medical Mission also operates a warehouse that ships millions of dollars worth of equipment and supplies to mission hospitals and provides them with technical support.
• Children’s Heart Project provides surgery for children born with life-threatening heart defects in countries where proper care is not available. Children are brought to North America, where services are donated by hospitals, surgeons, and host families and churches. Since 1997, more than 500 children have benefited.
• HIV/AIDS Projects mobilize private, church, corporate, and government resources to respond to the AIDS pandemic. In 2002, Samaritan’s Purse organized Prescription for Hope, the first global conference on the Christian response to HIV/AIDS, which drew 900 workers from 87 countries to Washington, D.C. In partnership with the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, Samaritan’s Purse is reaching 2 million youth in East Africa with education about the disease and abstinence-based prevention programs.
• Clean Water Projects operate under the slogan “Turn on the Tap.” Samaritan’s Purse-Canada holds the license to build BioSand Water Filters, which can provide a family with a perpetual source of safe drinking water. More than 600,000 people in 21 countries have benefited from these filters. Samaritan’s Purse also drills and repairs wells, sets up large-scale filters in disaster zones, and helps to educate communities in hygiene and sanitation.
Other initiatives
• Combating Global Hunger. In emergency situations, Samaritan’s Purse acts quickly to meet the needs of affected individuals. In the development context, the organization focuses on sustainable livelihood projects including fishponds, agricultural training, livestock cooperatives, and others.
• Sudan Church Reconstruction. After the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Samaritan’s Purse launched a program to rebuild churches destroyed during the country’s civil war. More than 270 churches have been constructed since the project began.
• Children’s Programs. Following the Biblical mandate to care for children (Mark 10:13-16), Samaritan’s Purse provides disadvantaged children around the world with food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education.
• Community Development. Although each country office has its own unique array of projects, most offices offer vocational training and livestock livelihood projects.
• Women’s Projects. What if the world’s women were free from poverty, abuse, and exploitation? The if campaign focuses on providing literacy and education, maternal health, livelihood and life skills support, and anti-trafficking and prostitution measures for women around the world.
Financials
Samaritan’s Purse generates about $300 million annually. Of that amount, 88 percent goes directly to projects; 5 percent is used for administrative support; and 7 percent is spent on fundraising.
Samaritan’s Purse financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principals and an annual audit is performed by Dixon Hughes PLLC, an independent public accounting firm. A financial report is available on the organization’s website.
Criticism of the organization
Throughout the 2000s, critics have questioned the altruism of Operation Christmas Child, noting that Evangelical Christian literature has been distributed with the shoe boxes and have alleged that the project's underlying aim is the proselytization of non-Christians. Rev. Franklin Graham, the head of Samaritan's Purse, was also criticized for calling Islam "a wicked and evil religion", leading to opposition campaigns by Islamic leaders. In the UK criticism has come from prominent Christian clergy, such as Rev Giles Fraser, as well as from Muslim groups, Church groups and concerned individuals in the UK and Canada.
In 2003, The Co-op and South Wales Fire Service both suspended their support for the organisation after concerns about its religious connections.
The accounts for Samaritan's Purse UK for 2006 show a turnover in excess of £22 million. Of this total, only £1.3 million was disbursed on relief and aid projects with the balance spent on promotion and operations associated with the evangelical project Operation Christmas Child.
Samaritan's Purse responded to many of these concerns by highlighting their evangelical focus and their long history of non-denominational cooperation. Following censure from the UK Charity Commission, Samaritan's Purse UK also released a leaflet claiming their actual intent and methods.
References
- ^ Charity Navigator Rating - Samaritan's Purse at www.charitynavigator.org
- ^ ; Nov. 24. 2007.
- ^ Scanned Accounts (PDF), http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/ScannedAccounts%5CEnds49%5C0001001349_ac_20061231_e_c.pdf
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