YOUR COMPASSION Overflows
At a Glance
Tumaini’s Journey from Desperation to Dignity
Because of friends like you, one mother found hope again
Growing Hope, One Harvest at a Time
Your generosity is feeding families through innovative agriculture
Your Compassion Overflows!
Changing lives around the world through the gift of clean water
Bringing Smiles to Cambodia
You restored a child’s joy through life-changing surgery
Portraits of Promise
Petr found hope, education, and a future filled with possibility—thanks to you! 3 6 8 12
TUMAINI’S
JOURNEY FROM DESPERATION to Dignity
Because of friends like you, one mother found hope again
Tumaini’s story began in tragedy—but thanks to you, it didn’t end there. A devoted mother, Tumaini once lived a peaceful life in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She ran a small business selling clothes and household goods. Then the war reached her village. Violence erupted, and overnight, everything changed.
“I did not manage to escape with my family,” she said.
“I only managed to rescue one of my children. I have no idea what happened to my husband. I came here with nothing.”
Today, I have my own pot, I have my own container for water ... it feels wonderful! —Tumaini “ ”
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Tumaini and her daughter fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs, eventually arriving at the Rumonge refugee camp in Burundi. There, she found physical safety—but not relief from suffering. Like many displaced families, they were trapped in a daily battle for survival.
“We had no food to eat. We suffered much hunger,” Tumaini shared. “I didn’t even have a container for drinking water—I had to borrow. I had no cooking pot, either, so whenever I needed to prepare food, I had to ask from others.”
This is where you came in. Through your support of
Operation Blessing, your compassion overflowed into Tumaini’s life and the lives of 283 refugee families like hers. You helped provide vital relief— flour, cooking oil, beans, cooking pots, and water containers.
These simple items meant everything.
“We are truly grateful to you for bringing us food,” Tumaini said with a smile. “Thank you so much, and may God bless you. Today, I have my own pot, I have my own container for water— and truly, it feels wonderful!”
Tumaini’s journey is still unfolding, but your generosity helped turn a season of hardship into a story of hope.
Growing Hope
ONE HARVEST AT A TIME
Your generosity is feeding families through innovative agriculture
You are helping to redefine hunger relief right here in America. In a bright new facility in Springfield, Missouri, your support is helping a new kind of outreach to take root. Towers filled with lush produce stretch toward the ceiling, nearly ready for harvest. This is GATHER— Operation Blessing’s latest effort to tackle hunger in America.
“We created GATHER because hunger in America has become too quiet and too accepted,” shared David Edson, director of hunger relief programs. “GATHER is a movement to bring help and hope to a hurting world, starting right here in America.”
A key part of the solution is Flex-Farms—hydroponic systems capable of producing more than 400 pounds of food each year. Just over a month after planting the first seeds, David and his team celebrated their first harvest.
“It’s pretty incredible how much food we are able to grow in such a small space.”
Hydroponic systems like those at GATHER use 90 percent less water than traditional farming, making them both efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Did you know?
Hydroponic systems like those at GATHER use 90% less water than traditional farming, making them both efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Fresh produce remains one of the hardest items for food-insecure families to access.
“Our solution to that was to grow food in the heart of the community in need. To be able to harvest and distribute food to those people within the same day,” David said.
Nearly one in eight households in America face food insecurity—they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. In Springfield, those rates are even higher. David sees this pilot location as just the beginning. “What we build will become the blueprint for a national movement— one that churches, partners, and neighbors can replicate across the country.”
And all this leads to lasting change. “Real transformation doesn’t happen when we hand out answers. It happens when we walk alongside people as they find their own.”
Thanks to compassionate friends like you, families in Springfield are beginning to experience that transformation, one fresh harvest at a time.
YOUR COMPASSION Overflows
Changing lives around the world through the gift of clean water
Water is a precious gift—a gift that far too many people can’t access. But you are changing that and giving many communities hope for a brighter future. Your support enables us to provide the best possible clean water solution for each location, making a true and lasting difference. Here are just a few of those stories.
Honduras
On the small island of Boca del Río Viejo, located off the coast of Honduras, water provides the livelihood for many local fishermen. But it is also the source of one of their greatest heartaches.
For years, Alisson (age 4) and her two sisters had no choice but to drink water from hand-dug wells built with stones—or worse, old tires. High tides often flooded the wells, leaving the water yellow and tasting like salt. One day, Alisson started vomiting. Her mother panicked. “I thought I would never see her alive again.” Alisson’s father rushed her by boat to the nearest health center and learned she had parasites. Something had to change. That’s when your love saw the people on this vulnerable island and provided the materials to construct a long pipeline to pump water from more than six miles away, as well as treating it for heavy metals like arsenic. Since the soil is not strong enough to support traditional
Overflows
water towers, you made it possible for smaller storage tanks to be built across the island.
“When I found out clean water was coming, it was such a joy,” Alisson’s mother said.
Thank you for giving Alisson’s family—and the entire community of Boca del Río Viejo—hope for a better future!
And you are sending that same hope much further.
Jamaica
Your kindness also surrounded Saneek, a single mom with four children in Jamaica, after she lost everything in Hurricane Melissa. Saneek collected what water she could from a barrel in a neighbor’s yard. “As soon as it ran out, we didn’t have any more,” she said.
Thanks to your support, our disaster response team was able to bring her a portable water filter, so she could sanitize water from a local stream to make sure
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Thailand
And on the other side of the world, our compassionate supporters answered the prayers of a farming village in Thailand. Before you intervened, families in Baan Thalong collected rainwater in large containers, but it was never enough. They often had to walk down a rocky path to a river that was full of chemicals.
Pastor Ekasit said, “Despite this, we had no choice but to use and drink it.” When the river ran dry, they had to purchase expensive water—if they could afford it. Even then, the people of Baan Thalong held onto hope in God.
Your compassion provided a new well at the local church—
right in the heart of the community. A local farmer, Wilai, said: “Now, we can transport water to our homes, storing enough for two weeks before returning.” The church even has enough to share with visitors.
Thank you for changing the lives of families and entire communities around the world!
Bringing Smiles to Cambodia
You restored a child’s joy through life-changing surgery
Naihieng’s parents knew their little girl would need surgery one day. Born with a cleft lip, Naihienge not only struggled to eat, she suffered from respiratory and other health problems, as well. And, at the age of 3, Naihieng was becoming more sensitive to her appearance. Her dream, said her mother, was “to be beautiful, to smile, and to be healthy.” Their family of six lived in a small village in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. Naihienge’s father, Chheang, worked hard in a fish market and as a night guard. Her family had planned so carefully to try and help her. Yet that plan for “someday surgery” was sidelined when her father faced sudden health problems of his own.
When friends like you heard about this family, our caring partners immediately took steps to make this precious child whole again. Thanks to your generosity, Naihieng was referred to a life-changing surgery at the New World Medical Center in Phnom Penh—with the entire cost of the operation fully covered. And what a difference your love made! Today, this sweet young girl is smiling, truly smiling. It’s now easier for her to eat, she’s gained weight, and she can pronounce words much better. The whole family is delighted that she’s able to enjoy social gatherings without fear of embarrassment.
Naihieng’s mother said, “Seeing how she enjoys life with the new lip— and seeing her smiling every day—makes our family rejoice with her!”
Because your compassion overflowed, we were able to change a child’s life on the other side of the world.
“Seeing her smiling every day makes our family rejoice with her!”
–Naihieng’s mother
PROMISE PORTRAITS OF
Petr found hope, education, and a future filled with possibility—thanks to you!
Life has never been simple for Petr and his family in rural Kyrgyzstan.
Petr’s father works hard to take care of five children and an elderly mother at home. Even with limited support from the government, there’s never quite
enough. Some days, it’s a decision between food and warm clothes. Other days, the question is whether school supplies can be bought at all.
And when education becomes a luxury, the future starts to fade.
In a region where classrooms are overcrowded and underfunded, Petr struggled to see a way forward. His dreams felt distant. And after a serious accident left his mother and brother injured, even hope seemed out of reach.
But in their most vulnerable moment, God was already working through friends like you.
thrive. You even gave his family a special gift that brought Petr joy and responsibility—chickens!
“I take care of the chickens, pour water for them, walk with them … I mean run after them!” he said with a smile.
Where there was once despair, THERE IS LAUGHTER.
Thanks to your support, the Tokmok Bright Way Center, a local partner of our Orphan’s Promise, was able to step in. Petr now attends free classes in math, English, and computer literacy. His family receives food, clothing, and hygiene items. And during their crisis, the center also provided counseling, comfort, and prayer.
The center became more than a place to learn—it became a refuge.
Today, Petr is healing emotionally and beginning to
Now, where there was once despair, there is laughter. There is peace. And there is possibility.
Because of friends like you, Petr’s story is no longer about what’s missing—it’s about what’s growing.
Across the country, as families in need are blessed and fed through Operation Blessing and partner ministries like Tokmok Bright Way Center, you continue to extend comfort and joy.
