North Carolina-Based Samaritan’s Purse Rushes Relief to Virginia to Help Tornado Victims

Samaritan's Purse Staff and Volunteers Are Already at Work in Suffolk, Va. - Disaster Relief Unit and Additional Supplies Arrive Today

BOONE, N.C., April 30, 2008—Just hours after a trio of tornadoes wreaked havoc on parts of Virginia Monday night, Samaritan's Purse staff arrived on scene to help provide assistance to storm victims. Additional volunteers and relief supplies, including a Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief Unit, are now on the way.

Boone, N.C.-based international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse is focusing the initial stages of its relief operations in Suffolk, Va., where one of the twisters cut a zigzag path 25 miles long through residential areas, obliterating some homes and causing significant damage to others.

Samaritan's Purse is coordinating teams of staff and volunteers to help repair homes and remove debris. Along with the Disaster Relief Unit, which will serve as a command center to direct its relief operations in the area, Samaritan's Purse has deployed tractor trailers filled with supplies including heavy-duty plastic sheeting, construction equipment and building materials to help make emergency repairs.

"We want to help in any way we can," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse. "Our prayers are with the people of Virginia who have lost so much to these tornadoes, and we want to help people get back into their homes and start rebuilding their lives as quickly as possible."

Samaritan's Purse has been involved in domestic disaster responses since the 1980s. Earlier this year Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief Units responded to tornadoes in Tennessee and Arkansas, and provided assistance to flood victims in Missouri. In 2007, staff and volunteers helped tornado victims in Americus, Georgia, and Greensburg, Kansas, as well as the victims of flooding in Minnesota and wildfires in California. On the Gulf Coast, Samaritan's Purse helped clean, repair, or replace homes for more than 12,000 families after the devastating hurricanes of 2005. The organization has four tractor-trailer units stocked with emergency supplies and tools, ready to roll whenever disaster strikes. Each of these units can function as a self-supporting operations center for volunteers and staff. The priority of Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief is to help those who are unable to help themselves-the poor, elderly, disabled and uninsured.

Samaritan's Purse is an international Christian relief organization that provides immediate, no-red-tape response to the physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations-especially in locations where few others are working. Through its various projects including World Medical Mission, Children's Heart Project and Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan's Purse is working in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution. 

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