Samaritan's Purse helping Ottawa-Gatineau tornado victims

Christian relief agency sending specially equipped Disaster Relief Unit, recruiting clean-up volunteers

CALGARY, Sept. 24, 2018 /CNW/ - Samaritan's Purse Canada is helping tornado victims in the Ottawa-Gatineau region by sending one of its specially equipped Disaster Relief Units to the area, and recruiting volunteers to clean damaged homes and properties.

Emergency management officials in Ottawa have welcomed the assistance. More than 40 homes in the community of Dunrobin alone were damaged or destroyed by Friday's tornadoes. Thirty people were injured across the region and hundreds of thousands lost electrical power. Some are still waiting for power to return.

"People in Ottawa-Gatineau need help right now and we want to help them start on the road to recovery," said Brent Davis, Samaritan's Purse Canada's response director.

Anyone needing Samaritan's Purse clean-up assistance can call 1-844-547-2663. Anyone who wants to volunteer to help clean out damaged homes and properties should visit SamaritansPurse.ca.

Samaritan's Purse's Disaster Relief Units are tractor trailers outfitted with essential disaster recovery equipment including generators, pumps, hand tools, and safety gear for volunteers. The units also serve as volunteer coordination centers, and are equipped with a self-contained office, communications system, and other supplies.

In recent years, Samaritan's Purse has aided victims of a wide variety of natural disasters in Canada including floods in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, and British Columbia, plus wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and the B.C. interior.

Samaritan's Purse has also helped victims of international disasters including Hurricane Florence, hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma in 2017, Hurricane Matthew in Haiti in 2016, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, and the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in Japan.

Samaritan's Purse's "sister" organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada, often helps by providing crisis-trained chaplains to comfort and pray with disaster victims. Four volunteer Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains are in Ottawa-Gatineau.

Media interview availability
Samaritan's Purse Domestic Disaster Relief Manager Tammy Suitor is in Ottawa-Gatineau and available for interviews at 1-403-472-5076

Donations Needed
To support Samaritan's Purse's disaster relief efforts, please visit SamaritansPurse.ca (click on "Donate") or call 1-800-663-6500.

About Samaritan's Purse Canada
Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief and development organization that takes its name from Jesus Christ's biblical story of the Good Samaritan. Like that Good Samaritan, who found a beaten man and helped restore him, we aid victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine, and persecution. Besides disaster relief, our work includes collecting and distributing gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, providing safe water, teaching vocational skills, and providing agricultural supplies and training to families in the developing world. Learn more at SamaritansPurse.ca.

SOURCE Samaritan's Purse Canada