Recovering From An EF3 Tornado

Cheryl and Peter were asleep when an EF3 tornado tore through their neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. Like most tornadoes, it struck quickly and with ferocity. The tornado caused extreme damage to their property. The fast moving twister even tore a tree out of the ground and threw into their home. Terror washed over them. They were in fear for their lives.

Thankfully they made it through safely, and insurance covered the damage to their home. However, home damage does not encompass all of the expense in a disaster situation. Tornadoes destroy yards. They uproot trees. They tear fences and smash anything on your property. Consequently, the amount of debris left after a tornado can be significant. Hiring a contractor to remove debris can cost thousands of dollars. So what do you do when you do not have that kind of money available?

Cleaning Up Tornado Debris

Sadly, the insurance did not cover tornado debris cleanup in the yard. Peter was left alone to clean up the debris, including other fallen trees. He felt overwhelmed by the size of the job. That is when Operation Blessing showed up! Thanks to YOU, volunteers arrived with truckloads full of supplies that your generosity helped provide. We are able to help meet disaster victims’ needs in these trying situations.

In addition to supplies, Operation Blessing also provided the manpower to help clear storm wreckage. Our teams cut trees, cleared debris, and removed the weight off of Peter’s shoulders. Thank you for supporting disaster victims in their darkest hour! To get involved, visit ob.org/disaster-relief.

A New House and Water for Dora in Kenya

Dora in Kenya received gifts that keep giving

Meet Dora, a single grandmother from Loitoktok, Kenya. She spends her days raising her grandchildren. For many years they lived in a manyatta, a style of home in Kenya made from sticks, cow dung, and thatch grass. That was before you gave them a new home in Kenya!

Before You Came Along

Previously, Dora and her family lived and cooked in the same small structure. The smoke from the fire used for cooking caused eye and lung irritation, making it difficult for Dora’s grandchildren to study.

When it rained their roof leaked, and Dora’s family stayed awake all night covering themselves with a cow hide just to stay dry. But through it all, Dora never lost hope. She prayed to God for a blessing.

How You Provided Dora with a New Home

And thanks to generous friends like you, Operation Blessing constructed a new home in Kenya for Dora and her family! The structure is now dry and secure with brick walls and a metal roof. You also provided a rain water harvesting system. Now Dora has drinking water right by her doorstep. Thank you for your heart to see Dora and her family cared for in their desperate time. To get involved, visit https://www.ob.org.

Lives Turned Around By Food Ministry

Joelle Allen has a job she loves with Lighthouse Gospel Mission, a ministry that partners with Operation Blessing. Like so many food ministries, they help provide hunger relief to people in need. Thanks to your support, Lighthouse Gospel Mission helps provide assistance for those facing food insecurity in Florida. Through their partnership with Operation Blessing, they help feed hungry and hurting people. Located in Riverview, Florida, they serve the Tampa Bay community. As a part of this ministry, it has been a blessing to Joelle to be able to help.

But things haven’t always been easy. When she first came to the ministry she was a single mother seeking healing from a life of drug addiction and abuse. As she turned her life around, she met her future husband, Keith, who was also a single parent. But a week after they started dating, Keith lost his job. Now Keith was dealing with food scarcity and food insecurity in Florida.

Amid the turmoil, blessings showed up. Joelle and Keith began receiving food and hygiene items from Operation Blessing partners through Lighthouse Gospel Mission. They relied on regular visits to feed their family. After a year, Joelle received a job offer from Lighthouse. She managed the women’s ministry for four and a half years. Keith now works in sales, but he will never forget this season of his life. Your blessings and generosity helped him overcome his situation. Your gifts provided food to get them through. Thank you! To get involved, visit https://www.ob.org/hunger.

Clean Water For Arnoldo in Honduras

10-year old Arnoldo lives in Santa Elena, Honduras. Getting clean water in Honduras does not come easy for him. Every day when he returns home from school, Arnoldo must traverse steep hills, avoiding dangerous snakes along the way just to fetch water for his family. With his mother caring for his younger sister and his father away at work, the responsibility fell on Arnoldo. Arnoldo spent almost an hour every single day fetching clean water.

Dirty Unclean Water

Not only was the journey treacherous and dangerous, but when he reached the water source, it was contaminated with dirt and bugs. It caused stomach pain and sickness for Arnoldo and his family.

However, thanks to generous support from friends like you, Arnoldo’s family and neighbors were given a blessing. Through your kindness, Operation Blessing installed a state-of-the-art water purification system for the community of Santa Elena. This gravity fed system delivers clean water right into their community! Thank you for your heart to see Arnoldo, and villages like Santa Elena, provided with safe, clean water in Honduras. To get involved, visit https://www.ob.org/clean-water/.

Hope After the Flames

KENYA – Meet Emmy, a warm and kind teenager who wants to be a doctor someday. She lives in Kenya with her mother and four siblings. Sadly, Emmy has endured incredible pain and loss in her young life due to burn scars that threatened her future.

A Horrible Accident Causes Burns

Two years ago, Emmy went out to buy some paraffin for the lamp that her family used for light. Unfortunately, instead of paraffin the shop sold her gasoline. When Emmy went to light the lamp after she got home, tragedy struck and Emmy was engulfed in flames.

The accident left Emmy badly burned across much of her body. She was taken to a local hospital where she had a lengthy stay as she recovered. Her medical bills were partially covered by the national insurance and partially with the help of her village. Even so, Emmy’s treatment was incomplete, and money had run out to pay for the remaining care that she still needed.

A Need for Surgery in Kenya

The burn scars had left the skin on Emmy’s hands badly contracted, sharply restricting her movement, and it only got worse as she grew. To compound the issue, Emmy’s father abandoned the family right after the accident, leaving Emmy’s mother to support the family alone. 

The injuries made it difficult for Emmy to perform basic life tasks and particularly to do her schoolwork, as the contractures made it difficult for Emmy to hold a pencil and write. Though her whole life was still before her, things were looking very bleak for Emmy. Then faithful Operation Blessing partners like you stepped in to change her life with burn scar surgery.

You Made Burn Scar Surgery Possible

After hearing about her situation, Operation Blessing launched a special fundraiser just for Emmy through our Life-Changing Surgeries catalog and compassionate people like you stepped in to bless her. Soon, all the money needed for Emmy’s burn scar surgery had been raised!

Since then, Emmy has had her operation and is making a remarkable recovery—all thanks to the generosity of friends like you. “Thank you for helping me with the medical bill,” Emmy exclaimed. “I hope to go back to school and study to be a physician. God bless you!”

Masks of Hope for Loyda

PERU— Can you imagine being an unemployed single mother in Peru during the pandemic? This was the harsh reality for Loyda, a Peruvian woman with three children. Loyda supported her children with her small business selling fish and plantains in the street. But when COVID-19 struck, her business went under. Loyda had no income to feed her three children. “I was depressed every time my children would say, ‘Mom, I’m hungry,'” Loyda told Operation Blessing staff.

But thanks to your incredible generosity, hope was on its way for this single mother in Peru! Through your support, Loyda received the hands-on training she needed to start a new business: making and selling face masks. Through her new business, Loyda has the income she needs to keep food on the table. Thanks to you, Loyda and others in the community now have the training and tools they need to support themselves by making face masks. “I am so excited and relieved that I am learning more about sewing!” Loyda exclaimed. “With these masks we can sustain our families.”

Your support means the world to us. Thanks to you, people like Loyda are receiving gifts of hope that radically change their lives and help them break the cycle of suffering. Please click here to learn more about how you can get involved with Operation Blessing’s hunger relief programs. Thank you and God bless!

Feeding a Young Family in Kentucky

Katrina loves being a stay-at-home mom. Unfortunately, it has not been easy for her family during the COVID pandemic. Like others, they were in need of hunger relief in Kentucky. Her husband Nathan is a truck mechanic in Mayfield, Kentucky. He worries about losing his job every day amidst the unpredictable economic climate created by the pandemic. His family faces food insecurity, a situation where they do not have a reliable consistent source of healthy food. Financial shortages often contribute to a situation where food insecurity can occur. Those who are struggling, like Katrina and Nathan, often have to choose between paying the rent or buying food. A terrible choice no one should ever have to make.

Thankfully, Katrina heard about a food distribution at Operation Blessing partner Calvary Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This food pantry is just one of many helping people in need. This one is supplied by the generous donations of Operation Blessing partners like you. These supplies of food help ease the burden for families like Katrina and Nathan’s. Katrina visited the distribution and received bags of groceries that were a “godsend” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to YOU, Katrina and Nathan can rest easy knowing they will not go hungry due to financial insecurity. Thank you for providing a young couple with hunger relief in Kentucky! Find out more about how your partnership and kindness feeds families in serious need.

Single Mom Blessed by Warehouse of Hope

Angela is a single mom who loves spending time with her boys. They are 4 and 6 years old. A few years ago, Angela started her own in-home daycare. But when enrollment numbers began dwindling, bills began piling up. She was struggling financially and did not know where their next meal would come from. For many single mothers facing food insecurity, this is a common scenario. Food insecurity is a situation where you do not have a reliable source of nutritious food. In some cases it can lead to extreme hunger.

But Angela’s friend told her about Operation Blessing partner, Warehouse of Hope. She was astounded by what she discovered. Thanks to YOU, Warehouse of Hope is filled with food and other supplies for struggling families. Warehouse of Hope, and places like it, help supply families who cannot afford enough food to feed themselves. This, of course, includes single mothers facing food insecurity like Angela. Thankfully, Angela was able to receive several bags full of food to feed her sons during tough times.

Now Angela has a stable job working remotely. But she will never forget the blessing and joy she received from YOU in her time of need. Your partnership with Operation Blessing is making a difference. Your generosity and giving helps supply places like Warehouse Of Hope. This provides hunger relief for families in need. Thank you! To get involved, visit https://www.ob.org/hunger.

Eastern Star is Feeding Elizabeth City

Distributing food from Operation Blessing, Eastern Star Church has been providing hunger relief in North Carolina for people in need. Thanks to giving from our generous partners, Eastern Star Church has been helping people in Elizabeth City for more than 15 years. Likewise, when hardship hits, food insecurity is often not far behind. Now due to COVID-19, the issue of hunger relief in North Carolina is greater. There are people in Eastern Star’s area struggling with hunger. The church serves many people who wake up in the morning wondering what they are going to eat that day. Faithfully, Eastern Star provides food to help mitigate that hunger.

Latoya is a mother who works two jobs to provide for her daughter, Zakeya, an honor student. Sadly, Latoya’s hours got cut when COVID-19 hit the United States. Hope was not lost though. Eastern Star Church was happy to help her bridge the gaps created by limited income. They made sure she had nutritious food on her family’s table.

Some aid recipients have turned into volunteers over the years. These volunteers now return the joy and hope given to them by the ministry. They provide hunger relief in North Carolina to many people. Thanks to YOU, struggling men, women, and children in Elizabeth City are now able to put food on the table during tough times. Thank you! To get involved, visit https://www.ob.org/hunger.

A Big Blessing for Villagers in Cambodia

CAMBODIA – Hours from the nearest city, the village of Trapeang Kha is like so many others in developing nations around the globe. The village is rich in beauty, but does not have the resources it needs to meet the needs of the people living there. Struggling farmers, hardworking fishermen, and unskilled laborers comprise this economically challenged community. Many of their younger members end up moving to Thailand to find better jobs. One pressing problem is the lack of access to clean water in Cambodia.

This requires citizens to search for water that is often unclean and unsafe. One resident, a woman named Ty, described the situation. “I used the water from the stream which was located near the mountain. Normally, I had to spend time walking about 0.3 miles to get water to use daily. The water was dirty and it had leaves, insects, and chemicals in it. My family used to get sick from using it.” 

Clean Water Solutions For The Village Of Trapeang Kha

Then Operation Blessing friends like you reached out to make a difference for these precious villagers through a well that provides clean water in Cambodia. “Now, it is not difficult to get water like in the past. I have a new well and enough water to use. The water is clear and safe and the pump is easy to use,” Ty said.

Another resident, Srem, age 10, added, “Every morning I get water for my parents for cooking, drinking, washing, and bathing. My brother and sister like to use this well too. I have enough time for school and I can still help my family.”

“I love this new well because my family and my livelihood are better,” Ty said as she explained the change this well has created. “Thank you for sponsoring this well. May the Lord bless your family.” 

In fact, many of the grateful villagers we talked to wished blessings upon you. Thank you for your giving heart and your generous support of clean water projects in Cambodia and around the world! 