ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA — Franklin Graham spent a whirlwind weekend in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as he met with children and families who have benefited from Samaritan’s Purse Children’s Heart Project and later gave out Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts.

Franklin Graham – President and CEO, Samaritan’s Purse:

This is Franklin Graham. I’m in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We’ve been working here for over 20 years, bringing children that have heart defects. There’s a congenital heart defect here where many children are born with a hole in the heart, and these very critical surgeries just cannot be performed here. And so we’ve taken them to the United States, to Canada, to the Cayman Islands, where these surgeries are performed.

And so we’ve seen over 450 children from this country alone go through the surgery. These were children just 20 years ago, but today, they are some– one is a doctor, one’s a pastor– and there’s just an incredible group of people that we’ve been able, with God’s help, save their life through this critical surgery. And then we’re going to be doing an Operation Christmas Child shoebox distribution here.

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting 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 with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) program is committed to meeting the critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease, and natural disaster. We stand ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. The DART specializes in providing water, food, shelter, and medical care while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

CONTACT: Gabrielle Bouquet, news@samaritan.org

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