Junkies Care: Inside Samaritan’s Purse - Relief, Recovery, And Hope Across Borders

A new year calls for grounded action, not just good intentions. This month for Junkies Care we’re shining a light on Samaritan’s Purse—an international relief nonprofit known for getting to crises fast and staying long enough to help families rebuild. From field hospitals after hurricanes to clean water systems in conflict zones, we walk through how readiness, logistics, and trusted partnerships turn compassion into real outcomes when days and hours matter.

Our audience spans 18 countries, and this conversation reflects that global reach. Whether you’re drawn to disaster relief, child health, or veteran support, there’s a place for you to plug in—donating, volunteering, or rallying your group to host a shoebox drive. We share firsthand stories, practical steps, and links to resources so you can move from inspiration to impact today.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more conversations like this, and leave a review to help others find the show. Ready to get involved? Visit our site for the January feature page and quick links to Samaritan’s Purse programs and ways to help.

#dysfunctionjunkiespodcast #samaritanspurse #junkiescare

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Global Audience
• 0:48 Why Samaritan’s Purse
• 2:26 International Crisis Response
• 3:26 Operation Christmas Child
• 5:42 Healing Hearts For Children
• 6:17 Support For Veterans And Families
• 7:27 How To Get Involved And Close

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:07

Welcome to Junkies Care, a special initiative of the Dysfunction Junkies Podcast, where we may not have seen it all, but we've seen enough. And now here are your hosts, Chrissy and Carrie.

SPEAKER_01: 0:21

Hello, Junkies. I'm Carrie. And I'm Chrissy. It is January 1st, so another month coming at you with Junkies Care.

CHRISY: 0:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

This is our initiative where we like to give a shout-out in recognition to organizations that are doing amazing things. So this month we thought in honor of our international listenership, we wanted to give a shout-out to an international company. Yes. Or I shouldn't say company, a nonprofit organization. So uh Chrissy, what are some of our 17 countries that we are in?

CHRISY: 0:56

Well, we have, of course, the great old USA. Thank you. That's right. If you can read my handwriting then. Yes. And uh we have Canada, Brazil, Peru, Singapore, the UK. Get past me. Uh, Colombia, India, Russia, Denmark, Kenya, Bermuda, Bahamas, Singapore. What else? Whether what did I say? Ireland. Ireland. Oh my god, how can I forget Ireland? Pakistan. Pakistan. Hopefully I covered them all. So yes, we are just rolling internationally. And uh, we just love the fact that we have people in all these wonderful, exciting places uh giving us a listen.

SPEAKER_01: 1:40

So absolutely. So this organization that we're gonna give a shout out to is called Samaritans Purse. They are an international relief organization. It's a non-denominational evangelical Christian organization, but they do help in many different ways throughout the world. They started off in 1970 to help people and meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, national disaster, disease, and famine. So they've got many different avenues that they help, but I'm just gonna point out a couple of them just because it's really amazing what they do. But if you want to learn more about them, you can go to their website, and that is Samaritansperse.org. You can learn all about them in all of the initiatives that they have. But one of the ones that they have is their international crisis response. So they are basically standing by and ready at a moment's notice of whenever there's a disaster strike anywhere throughout the world. So they help victims of uh disaster relief meeting critical needs for victims of conflict, disaster, famine, epidemics. You know, recently with the uh hurricane that hit Jamaica, they were one of the first uh organizations that was got that went in and was able to provide relief to the country. So yeah, they're really amazing. In fact, one time when Jim and I were flying to the Bahamas, we were at a little airport. Well, I shouldn't say a little airport, it was a big airport in North Carolina, and I saw the hangar that was Samaritan's Purse and their fleet of planes that was just ready and waiting to go, you know, to help any disaster that happens. It was very impressive. So that's great. Yeah, so their international crisis response is a big thing that they're known for. Another one, and this is one I've participated in, the church that I work at, they do this every year. It's called Operation Christmas Child. So basically, what happens is for the few months before Christmas, you can get a shoebox and put various toys and in um needed items. You know, maybe it's a toothbrush or maybe a sock, you know, a child's toy. And they have a list of all the things that you can, you know, you can send on it in this shoebox. And if they send these shoeboxes to children throughout the world so that way they have an item for Christmas. It's really cool idea. And if you don't want to actually make a shoebox, you can go online and donate money and pick items to basically build a shoebox. So the church that I work at usually every year does a couple hundred of these where the people will make these shoeboxes and then you know they get sent off and uh they are gonna go to children throughout the world. That's a great idea. It was it's really fun. It's really fun. The one year the mission committee had, you know, they were gonna donate like a hundred shoeboxes. So it was my job to build a hundred shoeboxes online so that I got to like, you know, fill the order basically. So it was kind of fun to see.

CHRISY: 4:41

You feel like you're shopping, yeah. You're doing two great things. You're sort of satisfying your need to shop, you pick things out that are great, and you're doing good for people who need it.

SPEAKER_01: 4:50

Yes, exactly. It was very fun. So, anyways, that's called Operation Christmas Child, and and you can help with that by you know, either donating a box in person or you can build a box online, or maybe you want your group, whatever it is, a group of friends, a church group, a community group, a service group, to do a shoebox drive. And so you just go to their website, can sign up, they'll send you everything you need for that. They send you the shoeboxes and everything. It's it's really a great opportunity. So next holiday season, if you're looking for a good cause, definitely the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox through Samaritan's Purse, I would highly recommend. Okay. Or anytime, I guess, right? Uh yeah, I'm not sure what their start and close dates are for that, but you know, it is a focus during the holidays. Oh, I gotcha. Okay. Another thing that they have, and this is this is super cool. It's called Healing Hearts. So for 27 years, Samaritan's Purse has arranged for critical congenital heart surgery for over 1,600 boys and girls for over a dozen countries. So basically, what they do is they arrange for these children that have these heart defects to be able to come to either the United States or wherever the surgeon is that can help. They arrange for the transportation, they arrange for the surgery and the aftercare and everything to help children with heart defects. So that is uh, I did not know they did that until I started doing researching on their website. That's wonderful. Yes. Another initiative they have is Operation Heal Our Patriots. So no matter what country you are in, you definitely have uh veterans. You have those that are affected by that of serving their country and affected by combat. After years of injuries on foreign battlefields, many combat veterans face daily battles with pain, grief, and loss in additional to fit physical ruins, often struggling with post-traumatic stress, moral injury, and survivor's guilt. This operation Heal Our Patriots, they have basically a program to address this, these side effects of them being in battle. And it helps with marriages. They fly people to Alaska where they can find space away from distractions in everyday life for a fresh start. They work on marriage counseling, they have some other therapy there, and you know, just to help people to be able to rebuild their life after such a traumatic situation. So I just thought that was really interesting. That was uh a nice way to reach out to those that have served.

CHRISY: 7:15

It it sounds like an organization that really wants to help in many, many areas.

SPEAKER_01: 7:20

Right. And this is only, like I said, these are only like the top four things. There's like probably another five or six things on their website that they focus on. But the international crisis response is is basically that. That's a number one thing. So they it doesn't matter what country or where, they're they're gonna be there to help. So Samaritans Purse, I would definitely uh go to their website, check it out, see how that you can help, you know, whether it's through online donation or volunteering or doing an initiative in your area, such as the uh shoebox. Yes, all righty. Uh, you can learn more about them on our website, dysfunction junkiespodcast.com. Uh, we have a whole page dedicated in the month of January to Samaritan's Purse. You can learn all about them and then see about other things that the organization does. Yes, definitely. All righty. Well, we look forward to uh hearing or talking to you more this month. So we will see you then. Bye. Bye, everybody.