Samaritan’s Purse is committed to helping disaster victims around the world, no matter how difficult and dangerous the conditions. Now, we have a new warehouse to make that happen as fast and as efficiently as possible.
View photos from the Ministry Center Warehouse dedication and open house
Samaritan’s Purse International President Franklin Graham at the dedication of the Ministry Center Warehouse in Calgary.
The 115,000-square-foot building, completed in April 2019, is a significant addition to our Canadian headquarters in Calgary.
“This warehouse allows us to stockpile enough disaster relief materials to fill five DC-8 airplanes,” said Samaritan’s Purse Canada Executive Director Fred Weiss.
“From Calgary, we can transport these supplies to Asian disaster sites in a very short time, bringing vital relief in Jesus’ Name to people who have often lost everything.”
“There’s no other facility like this in Canada,” said Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham, who spoke at a dedication event for the warehouse. “This warehouse enables us to help people (quickly and efficiently) in Jesus’ Name.”
As large as two American football fields, the warehouse provides us immediate access to supplies for victims of floods, hurricanes, typhoons, and earthquakes. This includes temporary shelter material, water filtration equipment, hygiene supplies, generators, and nutritional supplies for malnourished children.
Stockpiling supplies to battle disease outbreaks
A Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief unit.
We are also stockpiling items for deployments to combat infectious disease outbreaks. We have responded to these outbreaks in Haiti, Liberia, and Bangladesh.
In addition, the Calgary warehouse helps us respond to floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildfires in Canada by providing indoor storage for two of our four Disaster Relief Unit (DRU) tractor trailers.
These DRUs are outfitted with disaster recovery equipment including generators, pumps, hand tools, and safety gear for volunteers. They also serve as volunteer coordination centers, and are equipped with a self-contained office, communications system, and other supplies.
Besides the two in Calgary, we keep two more DRUs stationed in Ontario to respond to central and eastern Canadian disasters.
Storage for Rapid Response Team vehicle
The warehouse also enables us to keep inside the Mobile Ministry Center truck. It is used by crisis-trained Rapid Response Team chaplains from our sister organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
The chaplains accompany Samaritan’s Purse on disaster responses. They offer spiritual and emotional support to disaster victims, first responders, and Samaritan’s Purse volunteers.
The Calgary warehouse is being used in conjunction with Samaritan’s Purse’s DC-8. It adds to our existing warehouses in North Carolina, Dubai, Johannesburg and Florida.
“This new warehouse changes everything,” said Wayne Smele, an executive pastor at Calgary’s Centre Street Church.
“It gives Samaritan’s Purse a western North America staging point for disaster relief materials, and that means it can respond even faster to disasters in Asia. I believe God is going to use this warehouse in powerful ways.”
Related: Read Calgary Herald columnist Licia Corbella’s article about our new warehouse.
