Franklin Graham Returns to Haiti

By   •   December 10, 2010

The group, which included Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, surveyed work as Samaritan’s Purse staff and volunteers care for people infected by the deadly cholera outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people in a country still recovering from a devastating earthquake.

Graham was joined by Sarah, Todd and Bristol Palin, as well as his daughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, in delivering Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts to boys and girls in Haiti on Saturday.

“I am pleased that Gov. Palin will accompany us on a brief trip to Haiti this weekend and I appreciate her willingness to visit Haiti during such troubled times,” Graham said before the trip. “I don’t know of any people in recent years who have suffered more, and in such a short period of time, than the people of this small country–with an earthquake, a hurricane, and now a cholera epidemic. I believe Gov. Palin will be a great encouragement to the people of Haiti and to the organizations, both government and private, working so hard to provide desperately needed relief.”

Samaritan’s Purse medical teams have treated over 4,000 patients since the outbreak began in October. They also have trained 110 Haitian doctors and nurses in cholera treatment, distributed more than 200,000 cholera prevention pamphlets, and installed 11 community filters to provide safe, clean water.

Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) chaplains have worked alongside Samaritan’s Purse volunteers since Jan. 13, 2010, providing emotional and spiritual care to victims and volunteers.

Last year, Gov. Palin accompanied Graham to hand out food parcels to families in isolated Alaskan villages facing hunger because of a harsh winter.

Van Susteren has made two trips to the Democratic Republic of Korea with Franklin Graham.