By Nancy Flory Published on December 12, 2019

The Stream founder James Robison and Bruce Jacobson, LIFE Outreach’s Executive Vice President, attended the dedication of the Samaritan’s Purse Southwest Ministry Center in the Dallas/Fort Worth area Wednesday. Samaritan’s Purse is led by Franklin Graham, the late Rev. Billy Graham’s son. Robison spoke at the dedication and closed the event in prayer. “It was my honor,” he told The Stream.

“Betty and I have known the Graham family for many years,” said Robison. “I was honored to be invited to [the event]. It was wonderful to see Franklin, Ed Young, Jr., Dr. Paige Patterson and also meet Franklin’s youngest son, Army Major Edward Graham for the first time.” Robison added that Edward and his wife, Kristy, also serve with the Samaritan’s Purse in locations around the globe.

Graham tweeted in October that the new center will have U.S. disaster relief units and personnel working out of the Coppell, Texas, location. He added, “It will serve as our [Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes] processing center for the region.”

The Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child (OCC) collects shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items. They then deliver the boxes to children in need around the world. They strive to “demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way.” Since 1993, OCC has delivered more than 168 million filled shoeboxes to children around the world. This year, OCC hopes to deliver 11 million boxes to children in need.

“I am so proud of Franklin and the way he is continuing to build on his father’s legacy of faith and share the Gospel around the world,” Robison added. “It has been our joy to work with Samaritan’s Purse since Franklin assumed leadership and to support their outreaches. I know his dad would be so pleased.”

To find out how you can pack a shoebox for OCC and for dropoff locations, please click here.

Nancy Flory is an associate editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.