BOONE – Samaritan’s Purse is headed to Europe to help with the growing refugee crisis.
On Thursday, the Western North Carolina based international Christian relief organization will distribute some 2,000 backpacks filled with supplies like rain ponchos, blankets, towels, hygiene items and granola bars to women and children in need.
Emergency personnel with Samaritan’s Purse are on the ground in Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Greece.
“The need is overwhelming,” said Dr. Nathalie MacDermott, in a statement to the media. MacDermott is coordinating Samaritan’s Purse response efforts. “We see little children forced to walk miles alongside their parents who are carrying even younger siblings and what little belongings they can.”
An estimated 9 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of civil war in March 2011, taking refuge in neighboring countries, the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute reports. An additional 6.5 million remain internally displaced within Syria.
More than 3 million people have already fled to Syria’s immediate neighbors: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Meanwhile, over 216,000 Syrians have declared asylum in the European Union. The top five EU countries to receive asylum applications were Germany, France, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Teams are working with local churches and partners to provide food and hygiene items to the refugees making their way into Europe. Many of these men, women and children are in a mad scramble to transit through the Balkans and Hungary in search of better opportunities.
For the past year, Samaritan’s Purse has been assisting Syrian refugees in Northern Iraq and in other parts of the Middle East. The organization has helped by providing necessities such as hygiene kits, winter clothing, shoes, blankets and access to clean water as well as creating safe places for children to play.
“These are families with small children who have traveled hundreds of miles and are desperately trying to find a place to live before the bitter winter cold sets in,” said Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham in a statement to the media. “We are working to provide food, hygiene items and other basic necessities they so badly need.”
For more information or to support Samaritan’s Purse relief efforts, visit www.samaritanspurse.org.
Leave a Reply