Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Hurricane relief efforts by Samaritan’s Purse represent America at its finest, author and TV host Dr. Phil McGraw said.
“All these orange shirts you see around and behind me are Samaritan’s Purse,” McGraw said on a video recorded in the flooded basement of a home, according to “Crosswalk Headlines.” “Let me tell you, these guys don’t have meetings to fill out forms, to plan a meeting to get something going. They have verbs in their sentences. They have springs in their step, and they’re out making things happen. FEMA, all these other people are talking, thinking. No, not Samaritan’s Purse. They’re out doing things.”
Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham. Its hurricane relief crews are in six states hit by Helene, including North Carolina. The organization is coordinating airlifts to many of the locations in North Carolina and East Tennessee. Western North Carolina, McGraw said, has been largely forgotten by the rest of the country.
“People in other parts of the country are living their lives because this is out of sight, out of mind,” he said. “I don’t want it to be. They need us. They need our help. They need our support.”
READ: Luke Combs and other country music stars teaming up for Concert for Carolina to benefit hurricane victims
McGraw said he’s been encouraged by the neighborly love in the region. He spoke with hundreds of people throughout the mountainous towns that are completely cut off from civilization.”
“They have no power — not going to have any for four to six months,” he said. “We’ve flown in, taken them generators, food, water, supplies. I didn’t hear one person talk about being a victim. Didn’t hear one person talk about whether the people they were helping as neighbors or being helped by neighbors were Democrats or Republicans. Didn’t care about pronouns, didn’t care about politics, didn’t care about anything. All they cared about was that they were all Americans. Their neighbors needed help, and they were giving it. They needed help, and they were accepting it.”
He believes this unity should serve as an example for the nation.
“Man, what a lesson about what life’s about,” McGraw said “ How uplifting it was to see the spirit of these people. What a lesson in the face of disaster, in the face of losing everything. I’m really tired but so inspired by the hardened strength of these people. America at its best.”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
