Fresh Water, Abundant Blessings
You helped transform Betsy’s community in Peru 12
A Beacon of Hope in a Family’s Darkest Hour
You helped hurting families in Asheville
Your love gave a hardworking man a new beginning through surgery 6 9 10
Thank You for Blessing California Wildfire Survivors!
You reached out with compassion in a tragic time
in Kenya
ASHEVILLE, NC: Your kindness sent Christmas trees, gifts, and holiday hope to families struggling to rebuild after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
KENYA: You helped Esther and other women in her community grow fresh, nutritious vegetables in sack gardens for their families and extra income.
Compassionate friends like you gave Elpie a life-changing surgery that removed the cataracts from both of his eyes and restored his sight.
PERU: Your generosity helped bring clean water to an entire community in the Peruvian highlands and blessed families like Doris and Enzo’s with clean bathrooms.
CAMBODIA: Thanks to the support of friends like you, Tham received a new sewing machine to help increase her earnings through her sewing business.
More than 200 volunteers packed nearly 4,000 disaster relief kits to restock our shelves after Operation Blessing responded to 19 disasters in 2024.
We stood on the porch and watched it all wash away,” Lee told us. Yet, even in the face of overwhelming loss, he found solace in his faith.
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“I didn’t blame God. … The good Lord provided for us.
Hope can bloom even in the face of overwhelming adversity. When Hurricane Helene unleashed its fury upon Asheville, North Carolina, it threatened to drown the spirit of a community. One family in particular found solace in Operation Blessing’s community of support after Hurricane Helene
unleashed catastrophic flooding, devastating their home and their entire area.
“I’ve lived here all my life,” Lee began. A grandfather to nine and a great-grandfather to two, his deep roots in Asheville were evident as he spoke of his family’s multi-generational connection to the land. Together with his wife, they built a life full of love and resilience. But their world changed overnight when relentless rains turned their community into a flood zone, sweeping away their home, vehicles, and cherished belongings.
“We stood on the porch and watched it all wash away,” Lee told us. Yet, even in the face of overwhelming loss, he found solace in his faith. “I didn’t blame God. … The good Lord provided for us.”
That provision came in the form of Operation Blessing and donors like YOU, whose timely intervention brought hope and much-needed aid to the family and their community. With the support of such kindhearted friends, our disaster teams provided essential resources to help them
rebuild not just their home, but their hope.
Together with compassionate supporters and volunteers, our teams arrived in Asheville to help distribute clean water, food boxes, hygiene kits, and other essentials. In partnership with local churches, we provided hot meals to those who no longer had a place to cook. In Asheville’s River Arts District, where floodwaters had devastated local, family-owned businesses,
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our volunteers set up temporary spaces for artisans to continue their work, revitalizing the community’s cultural heartbeat and sustaining livelihoods so these families can begin to rebuild.
In December, our supporters enabled us to create a Christmas village for the families affected by Helene. Parents and children alike had a day filled with Christmas cheer that included snacks, games, and even presents.
For Lee’s family, your support was life changing. Their property, once home to his grandfather’s house, held deep sentimental value. “This place has been here all my life,” he said. With your assistance, we transformed a damaged mobile home structure that also existed on the property into a sturdy house for them, a symbol of their perseverance and hope. You helped provide the insulation and flooring needed to make it a safe, warm, and pleasant place to live.
And Operation Blessing will continue serving the people of Asheville for months to come.
As Lee’s family reflects on their journey from devastation to restoration, they remain anchored by faith and community thanks to friends like you. “Thank you. It’s just a blessing. The good Lord works through everybody.”
At the age of 49, Elias believed his life was nearing an end. A lipoma on his neck had grown out of control. He couldn’t work or provide for his family. He struggled to walk. His clothes no longer fit. But the financial burden felt even heavier than the massive growth weighing on him. It was unbearable, causing him to give up the most precious thing he had—hope. But friends like you stepped in with compassion and gave Elias a second chance—and a reason to live through a life-changing surgery.
Seven years ago, Elias felt a small painless lump on the back of his neck. It didn’t seem like anything to worry about at the time. But it grew and became painful—especially in the sun. As a construction worker in Kenya, Elias spent all day in the heat. The pain in his neck became excruciating as the growth became heavier. The extra weight created severe headaches, but Elias kept pushing through for his family.
Then the lump began attracting attention—the wrong kind. People refused to hire him. And what little money Elias normally earned slowly disappeared. Surgery was his only option. But with little income, he couldn’t pay for it. His wife searched for funds to help but came up empty handed. Then hope came from across the ocean. When our partners heard about Elias’s situation, your hearts broke for him and his family. Our generous family of supporters rushed funds to help this hardworking man and get him
the surgery he desperately needed. You also gave him a more precious gift—the gift of hope.
Elias was overwhelmed by your love and support. “I have nothing to offer in return, but you have renewed my life and restored my hope.”
Every year, life-changing surgeries give hurting children and adults so much more than healing from an illness or injury. They give people the chance to thrive and have faith for a better future. Elias said, “I thought I had reached the end of my journey, but you’ve given me a second chance to live.”
Elias “ I have nothing to offer in return, but you have renewed my life and restored my Hope. “
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We used to set out to fetch water as early as 6 a.m. and not get home until 10 a.m. … We suffered from typhoid, malaria, and body itching. We are very happy with the new project because we have clean water close to the house now. I appreciate Operation Blessing for the project they brought to our community.
We are very grateful for the assistance provided by the deep well. Now we can enjoy clean well water for our needs at school and for our drinking water at both the school and our homes.
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Water is of vital importance and a great blessing. Without it, we could perish. … We feel deeply grateful and blessed for this tremendous support.
“Take care of me, Lord.” A simple yet powerful prayer. These are the words 74-year-old mother and widow Josefina uttered as a super typhoon roared through her neighborhood. The National Weather Service characterizes a super typhoon as a tropical cyclone in the northern West Pacific that has sustained winds of 150 mph. At that intensity, not surprisingly, it terrified Josefina.
“The wind sounded like ‘zzzzz,’” she said. She peered out of her door to see what the conditions were, but there was zero visibility through the heavy rain. Scared and alone, she went back inside and prepared for the worst.
“I cried a little and I prayed, but I couldn’t finish [praying] because I
was too afraid,” said Josefina. Her prayer was heard nonetheless. As Matthew 6:7-8 reminds us, a short prayer is sufficient because God knows what we need before we even ask.
Despite the raging rains and whipping winds that lasted for eight days in the Philippines, Josefina survived the storm. But there was still a rough road ahead for Josefina. Two weeks passed and her community remained without electricity, and they’d been told it could take weeks for power to
Our disaster relief team in the Philippines delivered a solar light, a sleeping mat, and a blanket to Josefina.
Thank you for helping to answer Josefina's prayers.
“I didn’t have a flashlight,” said Josefina. “I didn’t go outside as I might trip or something worse could happen.”
To combat the darkness at night, compassionate friends like you stepped in as a beacon of hope and light. Our disaster relief team in the Philippines delivered solar lights, sleeping mats, and blankets to families in Batanes, including Josephina. She was very grateful to you for helping to provide these items because they allowed her to resume
some of her normal activities.
“Thank you, Lord, and thank you to your team because now I have something to use,” said Josefina. “First, I can use the light when cooking. And the blanket—because it rains in November, December, January, and February. Those are the cold months here so it will be very good to use.”
Because of your love and kindness, Operation Blessing was able to bring calm into chaos and give Josefina and her community hope for tomorrow.
In the nation of Honduras
half the population doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. So what can a woman do when her husband’s income declines—and shows no signs of recovering?
Orpa, who lives with her husband and their two children in a rural area in Honduras, decided to launch her own business. Orpa’s husband had been the breadwinner ever since they started their family, but over time his income opportunities had narrowed. There simply wasn’t enough to cover all the household needs, especially putting adequate food table. So, together with other women in the community of Boca del Monte, Orpa decided to start a business making plantain chips and selling them at local markets.
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discount purchasing. Then we provided better equipment—like an industrial stove to reduce processing time and yield a better-quality product. It also meant training them in hygiene and food safety techniques, so their products would meet quality and safety standards.
Then we conducted monthly follow-ups for six months, both to reinforce the administrative processes we’d taught them and ensure profitable business management.
This opportunity, made possible by your generosity, has transformed the lives of Orpa, her family, and this entire group of remarkable entrepreneurial women. Orpa reports that her income has nearly doubled, which means a more prosperous future for them all. She and her family feel enormous relief, as they can afford more nutritious food to grace their table—and know they’ve overcome the toughest times.
“The support you have given us is immense,” said Orpa with gratitude. “God bless you!”
God’s Word encourages us to fix our eyes on the things that endure. An inheritance is temporary and fades as it’s spent. However, a legacy is something tangible you place in the hands of others—something that lives on. Today we’d like to invite you to join our Lasting Legacy Society!
Through a simple beneficiary designation to Operation Blessing in your will or estate plan, you partner with our mission to provide help and hope to suffering families, transforming lives.
A planned gift to Operation Blessing can provide help to desperate parents so they’ll be able to feed their hungry children, offer emergency relief to those devastated by disaster, give medical care and clean water to communities facing disease and drought, and much more—all in the name of Jesus!
If you’ve included Operation Blessing in your will, trust, or other beneficiary designation, please let us know. We’d love to officially add you to our Lasting Legacy Society. And more importantly, we want to make sure you’re thanked today and your legacy is honored tomorrow.
BENEFICIARY DESIGNATIONS
SHOULD MENTION THE FOLLOWING:
Name: Operation Blessing International Relief and Development
Address: Planned Giving, CSB 112 977 Centerville Turnpike
Virginia Beach, VA 23463
Tax ID: 54-1382657
For more information, call Planned Giving at 800-333-2373, email PlannedGiving@OB.org , or visit oblegacy.org
