Linda Perdue spoke at RB Sunrise Rotary Club’s breakfast meeting on Tuesday, November 1, 2016 about Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child provides shoeboxes filled with small gifts and personal necessities to needy children worldwide.  Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to people around the world.  Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine.

 

Linda started to become involved with Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child in 2013 when she went to Florida as a donor and found a new calling as a “doer”.  She showed a short video showing what Samaritan’s Purse is all about, explaining that it has a 98.7 % rating with Charity Navigator.

 

Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child started with 12,000 boxes going to Bosnia and is now involved with 109 countries around the world, connecting across nations that no church could do.  For children who don’t have the basic necessities such as shoes, underwear, washrags, toothbrushes, toothpaste, writing utensils, etc., these shoeboxes are a lifeline of hope.

 

Linda spoke about companies donating to Samaritan’s Purse, with Keller Williams committing to collect 200,000 boxes this year.  She then showed how she packs her boxes and what she puts into them.  Operation Christmas Child has been in operation for 23 years.