One-in-six people in the world lack safe drinking water. Water-related illnesses are the leading cause of human sickness and death.

In many countries the water problem is the primary reason people are unable to rise out of poverty. Women and children often spend six hours or more each day fetching water for their families and communities. But there is help and hope! Water purification kits from Global Samaritan can bring living water to any thirsty community.

Here are pictures from Brazil. This is water before being filtered through a Global Samaritan purification kit.

Dirty water in Brazil

The water is called “ferrous iron-laden water.” Simply put that means it is like water that has been inside your car’s radiator. A sad and needless reality today is that many children around the world drink this water! This picture was taken in Brazil where children were actually drinking it! The regional director of the water department from this area was on site to observe and test the water as it was purified when these photos were taken.

Global Samaritan provided the kit that purified this water. The kit can be delivered in two large rubber maid tubs and can be powered by a battery or solar power. Each kit costs around $3,000 and can provide millions of gallons of pure, fresh drinking water.

Notice in the photo below the beginning of the clear water’s separation from the iron-laden water.

The same water after being filtered by a Global Samaritan purification kit

Over one billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water. That is about one-sixth of the world’s population. Over two million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Just look at these photos… You can literally see why the children who drink this are destined to become ill and many will die.

All it takes to make a life saving difference is a purification kit and some training on set-up and use. With your help Global Samaritan can provide the kit as well as the training. We want to put kits into areas around the world with polluted water. These are places where a fresh water well might not be an option. The good news is where dirty water is plentiful filtered water can be just as available!

Here is a photo of this same iron-laden water after it has been thoroughly run through a Global Samaritan’s water purification kit.

Now it's ready to drink!

David Catalina and Danny Sims teamed up with Greg Perry, former Executive Director of YouthReach International and Carol Luallin of Littleton, Colorado and Kim Meredith of Haskell, Texas to attend a benefit dinner for Mobile Medical Disaster Relief.

Carol Luallin (left) and Kim Meredith

MMDR, headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, takes teams of surgeons and other medical professionals to Haiti monthly. The dinner, held in Franklin, Tennessee provided great opportunities for networking among mission and humanitarian aid organizations.

Global Samaritan has shipped supplies to Haiti as well as organized relief trips and medical mission efforts. In addition Global Samaritan has installed several water purification systems. We are looking for sponsors to pay for a trip to Haiti to check on the water systems. Pray for the ongoing work in Haiti, for the safety of the MMDR teams as well as future partnerships.

Global Samaritan's David Catalina with Sylvester Wallace and Billy Tony of Lancaster

David Catalina and I spent Sunday afternoon April 15 in Lancaster, Texas. In all we delivered 54 $100 gift cards to Home Depot.

Cleaning out a badly damaged garage at our first street corner we met Sylvester Wallace. Sylvester actually lived across the cul de sac. His home was damaged, but he can rebuild. He was helping out at his neighbor’s home, clearly devastated by the storm. The Orange “X” painted on an exposed panel of drywall told us what any passerby could see: these homeowners have suffered a total loss. Sylvester was there helping salvage a few things out of the house.

David and I prayed with the men and then the conversation really turned. Sylvester identified himself as a pastor and he began to preach and pray, at the same time! We hugged and prayed some more, and told them the gift cards were from people of Abilene who simply wanted them to know what they already knew: God cares!

David Catalina and Brenda Wallace

This was the theme with most of the people we met. Brenda Walker and her husband Donny have lived in Lancaster 26 years. Donny was home when the storms came. He hid underneath an ironing board in their bathtub. “God spared him for sure,” Brenda told us. We saw their home and, under a mountain of debris, we saw that bathtub. Brenda could just as easily have been making funeral arrangements, not sorting through whatever could be taken to their temporary apartment.

God is God before the storm and He is God after the storm. But during the storm is when we cry out, “God save me!” Crying out to God is never a bad thing. It reminds us of the span of our lives, the need for help, the greater community of people where we belong.

After the storm we find friends who help. It is a privilege to help. A huge “thanks” goes out to all who gave. And thanks to the people of Lancaster who remind us that God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

Danny Sims

Navigate to the Home Page & Disaster Relief for more photos

Michael Woodard, an Abilene high school student is an Eagle Scout candidate. His project is to convert a room in the Global Samaritan warehouse to store school and office supplies. His project is comprehensive, everything from design to build out and will include painting the room, sealing the cement floor, building shelves and building a cart on wheels to use to receive supplies and then transport them to the school/office supply room.

From Michael’s proposal for his project:”Currently, Global Samaritan Resources stores donated school supplies mixed together on large space-inefficient pallets spread throughout the warehouse until needed to be sent.  This means the few employees and volunteers available must spend additional wasted time and effort looking for the right supplies needed for a particular relief operation.

It also degrades the supplies’ quality due to wear and tear.  With a centralized, dedicated storage area utilizing an organized system of shelving and storage bins, supplies could be quickly sorted from pallets, cataloged and stored for easy retrieval.”

I was part of 23 people who traveled to Piedras Negras, Mexico for a 3-day medical & outreach mission trip.  Lakepointe Church has partnered with a Church in Piedras Negras to provide dental services, eyeglasses, and wheelchairs to the disabled.  151 people received dental care, 355 pairs of eyeglasses were fitted, and 72 wheelchairs were donated all of which were customized for the individuals.

In addition, over 500 Bibles and gospel tracts were presented to the people as they waited to receive their free services.  Christian counseling was provided for biblical questions and delivering the gospel in an understandable format.

Many wheelchairs (we took) were purchased new by Lakepointe from the manufacturer. Others were supplied by Global Samaritan. I will be traveling to Ciudad Victoria on April 25 for another 3-day clinic.

Frank Butler, Dallas

With the Board of Trustees leadership, I am happy to announce the first ever Global Samaritan Annual Fund.

A growing Annual Fund will insure Global Samaritan the sound financial foundation to do the work God has laid before us. In the past few weeks alone Global Samaritan Resources has sent:

• 25,000 Spanish Bibles, medical supplies, school supplies, bedding, household goods, bicycles and 1,000,000 servings of soup to Mision Para Cristo in Nicaragua.
• Medical equipment, medical supplies and building materials to Zimbabwe alongside Physicians Aiding Physicians Abroad.
• Computers, medical supplies and school supplies to Zambia, Honduras, Rwanda, Kenya, Cambodia, the Middle East and Bolivia. This includes several pallets of school supplies sent to Afghanistan on an Air Force C-130 just weeks ago.
• 20 people to Joplin, Missouri, in partnership with Social Relief, to assist with rebuilding of homes after last May’s tornado.

Global Samaritan currently collects approximately $2,500 each month from 20 individuals, families and churches. Our goal for the Annual Fund is to dramatically increase the number of monthly contributions to Global Samaritan. If you do not already give regularly, please pray about joining us.

The Annual Fund will cover the cost of managing the collection, organization, storage and distribution of the goods we collect and send to people in need. This is the heart of our mission. It is mission work, the platform for all the mission work Global Samaritan does.

We are retooling and reestablishing our important communication network. We must be good stewards and maintain the warehouse. We will more effectively inventory and distribute our stored goods. We hope to partner with missionaries who might be unable to pay shipping costs for life changing cargo. We plan to send more partners on short-term mission trips. And we will be even more prepared to respond to earthquakes, storms, tsunamis and the other kind of trouble Global Samaritan Resources has responded to in the past decade.

I want to thank those who already participate in our new Annual Fund. And I want to thank in advance the hundreds of dedicated Global Samaritan Partners who will join us in the weeks to come. Please continue your dedicated prayers for and generous giving to Global Samaritan. If you have any questions or I can ever help you in any way let me know. You can navigate to the “Contact the Staff page and send me a direct e-mail.”

God bless!

Danny Sims

Executive Director

Each day the Lord presents new opportunities for us to demonstrate the character of God and help others. Here is a brief recap of our work from the last 4-5 weeks. As always, if you find yourself heading through Abilene, we welcome our supporters and partners to visit and see the work that the Lord is doing.

We have…

Loaded and shipped 40’ container of Spanish Bibles, medical supplies, school supplies, mattresses and bedding, household goods, and bicycles to Mision Para Cristo in Nicaragua on Monday, 2/13/12. Container arrived at port on 2/27/12.

Loaded and shipped 40’ container of medical equipment, medical supplies, building materials, and other donated goods to for PAPA Ministries (Physicians Aiding Physicians Abroad) in Zimbabwe, Africa.

Facilitated a shipment of a 40’ container of food (1,000,000 servings of dehydrated vegetable soup mix) to Mision Para Cristo in Nicaragua on 2/23/12.

Helped accumulate and deliver materials, computer equipment, medical supplies, school supplies, and other donated items to other entities for shipment to Zambia, Honduras, Rwanda, Kenya, the Middle East and Bolivia.

Partnered with Social Relief to send 20 people to Joplin to assist with the still-ongoing rebuilding of homes during Spring Break.

Spring/Summer is what we consider our “busy season” and we have many different upcoming projects and shipments. Be sure to check back and read about our efforts both domestically and internationally.  You can also view photos and updates on our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/globalsamaritan.

My name is Mike Daniel from Abilene, TX . I work as a biomedical equipment technician at Hendrick Medical Center. I have been employed there since 1993. I also volunteer at Global Samaritan part-time.

We set up three medical clinics in three remote communities; Santa Maria De Jesus, Panabajal, and Xetonox.

Our clinics consisted of a table where we brought in patients, weighed them, took their vital signs, and asked for their symptoms. They were then sent in to two nursing stations where we had Registered Nurses evaluate them.

They were then directed to our pharmacy table where we were able to distribute basic medicines and much needed vitamins as needed. We were also able to clean out wounds from time to time then dressed accordingly with the supplies we were supplied with.

Many of our medicines were purchased by our team members but a mulititude of vitamins and dressings were donated by Global Samaritan. Our team and the Guatemalan people were very grateful.

I honestly feel every one should take the opportunity to serve on a mission trip so they can see just how blessed they are to have what each one of us has. God is Good!

Global Samaritan Resources – a Christian humanitarian aid organization located in Abilene, TX has hired Danny Sims of Fort Worth, Texas, as its new Executive Director, effective March 1st.

Danny is a 1985 graduate of Abilene Christian University, holding the Bachelor of Arts degree In Communication.  He also received the MA in Communication from ACU in 1987.  Most recently he served as the Senior Minister of the Alta Mesa Church of Christ for twelve years and before that he was the Senior Minister of the Tomball Church of Christ for ten years.  He has also taught at the college level, spoken at various conferences, seminars, and at churches, both nationally and internationally, and served as a hospital chaplain. Active in civic and volunteer organizations, he presently serves on the City of Fort Worth Parks and Community Services Board.

Sims said, “I am excited to join Global Samaritan Resources. This is an organization with a great history and an even more dynamic future.  Partnering with people from Abilene, throughout Texas and all across America to help people here and around the globe is exciting and a deeply meaningful opportunity.”

Danny and his wife, Suzanne, have two children, Elijah who is a freshman at Pepperdine University and Hannah, a junior in high school.

Dr. Jon Ashby, professor at Hardin Simmons University and present Chairman of the Board of Global Samaritan Resources, said “We are very excited that Danny Sims has accepted our offer to serve as our Executive Director.  I am impressed with his experience, his communication skills, and his passion and enthusiasm for serving others.  I am confident that Danny will be a great addition to this organization as we seek to expand the world-wide ministry of Global Samaritan”.

CONTACT DANNY:  danny.sims@globalsamaritan.org    325-676-9991