Samaritan's Purse is prepared to send volunteers to California to help those whose lives have been turned upside down by the raging wildfires that continue to burn in Los Angeles County, the Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the organization, tells Newsmax.
"Right now we just have to wait till the fires are contained and are out before we can do anything," Graham, also the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told Newsmax's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
Once the fires are out and contained, then it will take about two weeks for the first responders and police to canvass the homes, including removing victims' bodies, and "that takes time ... but as soon as they give us the all clear, we'll go in," said Graham.
The organization is accepting donations for its ministry work with the fires. Newsmax has donated $100,000 and encourages viewers to donate as well.
"Every single cent helps," said Van Susteren.
Donations can be made at the organization's website.
Graham said that the first thing the organization will do is offer homeowners assistance if they need it.
"Lots of times what they're looking for is valuables that may have survived the fire, maybe a wedding ring or something like that. And so we'll go in and we'll help sift through the ashes," he said. "That takes a team of people to take one part of the house and sift through every square inch of the ashes that are on the ground."
Volunteers will often find things like coin collections, picture albums, or jewelry.
"To be able to give something back to a homeowner — just even a little thing like a ring that survived — means so much to them," said Graham, adding that if the government allows, Samaritan's Purse will also help clear off the property and prepare it so homeowners can rebuild.
But the need is great after families evacuate for fires, said Graham.
"Even if they went and rented an apartment somewhere, there's no furniture," he said. "It's a tough deal for them. A lot of these people are in these evacuation centers, but they're not going to make it."
Chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association who will go pray and listen to people tell their stories are also on site, Graham added.
"This is the most traumatic, probably, event in their life," he said. "They want to tell their story. The chaplains will just listen and we'll pray with them and try to encourage them and let them know that God hasn't turned his back on them, that God loves them and cares for them. It's a very important ministry just to help them emotionally and spiritually with these chaplains that have been trained for this type of crisis."
Samaritan's Purse often has volunteers who go to areas of crisis, including in Hawaii, where fire devastated thousands of lives over a year ago.
"[In] Lahaina, we've just been allowed just this year to go in and start the rebuilds, so it was a long process out there," said Graham. "We're in there doing rebuilds right now and it's just incredible."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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