Home » US Flood Aid Goes to North Korea and Not New England

US Flood Aid Goes to North Korea and Not New England

September 5, 2011 byda Tagliare

Before I get into this discussion, I want to let everyone know that I am a Christian and fully believe in and support charity of all kinds. Having said that, I want to take issue with a North Carolina based group known as Samaritan’s Purse and their latest flood aid project.

In the aftermath of devastating tornadoes in the southeastern US earlier this year and the epic flood damage in the northeast, thousands of Americans are struggling to put their lives back together. Many have lost their homes and everything they own. Hundreds more are without jobs as the storms destroyed businesses. Families are still reeling from deaths and injuries of loved ones and friends.

With the damage from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene in the New England area alone estimated to be in the billions, FEMA’s aid reserve is down to $800 million. Just when so many American’s are in desperate need of help and aid, Samaritan’s Purse sends $900,000 of relief materials in the form of food, medical aid, soap, blankets and cooking kits to flood victims in North Korea and has pledged an additional $1.2 million in aid.

North Korea is a nation that has been defiant to the US and the rest of the free world. Despite international pressure, they continued with military exercises that were intended to intimidate South Korea. They’ve also continued with their programs to enrich weapons grade plutonium that could readily be used to arm nuclear warheads and bombs. They would like nothing better than to see the United States reduced to a third world nation.

So someone please tell me why a US based organization would send vitally needed aid to an enemy nation when thousands of our own citizens are hurting, devastated and in dire need of the very same relief items. Charity begins at home and I’m getting sick and tired of the US and US based organizations helping other nations and people when so many Americans are just as needy. What’s more, where are other nations when America has catastrophic storms, earthquakes and fires?

Tagged with

FEMA, Flood New England, Hurricane Irene, North Carolina, North Korea, Samaritan's Purse, victims

doc-deke

May 13, 2011 FOOD CRISIS IN NORTH KOREA

Franklin Graham and a delegation from Samaritan’s Purse spent several days in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as part of a previously scheduled trip to meet senior officials about humanitarian needs including agricultural, medical, and food needs.

A major topic of the trip was the critical food shortages in the country. Mr. Graham visited a cooperative farm, where he presented North Korean farmers with more than 2,000 rolls of the agricultural plastic sheeting used for spring season seedbeds. He also talked with the farmers about the looming catastrophe.

“We were able to not only see the farms, we were able to see the farmers and talk to them about the problems they face,” he told Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, who was on the trip. “It is a crisis.”

Earlier this year, Samaritan’s Purse was one of five aid groups that were allowed into the country to assess the need for food.
Darfur Deng

We have come to clearly see the negatives that arise from being a Nanny State, with that said we should come to equally recognize the negative repercussions of attacking as a Nanny Nation. One must understand that throwing money @ materials into the mix in regards to such regimes as that which exist in North Korea seldom serves to benefit those it is intended to aid.

Divestment laws restrict companies from investing in countries that fail to meet a specified standard, these same laws should therefore restrict the use of tax exempt funds and material from doing the same.

If North Korea is listed as a supporting state of terrorism, then this organizations powers to be could find themselves staring into extended prison terms for giving aid to a Terrorist state, which was recently up held by a SCOTUS ruling.

The simple fact is that we have yet to see the impending devastation looming on the not to distant horizon, that will see our people devastated and in need of all the resources currently being shipped out of our country. It is time for non-profits to look at the long term picture as it applies to our nation's citizens.
Barbara

What a one-sided presentation of the facts! Samaritian's Purse is on the east coast helping. Every disaster in the US has teams from churches all over the US working with Samaritan's Purse assisting people in need after disasters. Read the interview of a one-armed, one-legged veteran helping Samaritan's Purse in North Carolina. Samaritan's Purse is still working in New Orleans rebuilding homes. To get the facts, read their website.
doc-deke

DA TAGLIARE ASKS:
So someone please tell me why a US based organization would send vitally needed aid to an enemy nation when thousands of our own citizens are hurting, devastated and in dire need of the very same relief items. Charity begins at home and I’m getting sick and tired of the US and US based organizations helping other nations and people when so many Americans are just as needy. What’s more, where are other nations when America has catastrophic storms, earthquakes and fires?
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Okay, I’ll tell you, Tagliare. But first let me ask YOU a question: If "charity BEGINS at home," where does it go NEXT?

1) You are talking about an organization that brings both substantial aid AND “boots-on-the-ground” to nearly every – if not EVERY – disaster in the U.S. within a few hours or days; and keeps it going, as in the case of Katrina, for example, for YEARS! Samaritan’s Purse IS helping victims of Irene.

2) The need for aid to the people of North Korea was assessed, and apparently promised months ago on or after a visit to North Korea by Franklin Graham – son of Evangelist Billy Graham and president of Samaritan’s Purse – and representatives of four other Christian relief organizations. Greta Van Susteren of Fox News was also on the trip, and reported on it live from N.K. on Fox News.

One news story about the trip said, “…parts of North Korea were expected to run out of food in less than two months [from April 2011] due to a poor harvest even if foreign donors agreed to provide assistance.

“It said that a harsh winter had reduced crop yield by up to half and that some people were already eating grass, leaves and tree bark.”

3) Feeding people immediately following a disaster and helping them people rebuild after losing a home is important, but it’s not on the same level as keeping people from starving or freezing to death, or dying for lack of medicines.

4) The North Korean people are not our enemies; they are men, women and children suffering under an oppressive regime. This isn’t government-to-government “foreign aid;” this is a human-to-human show of love and concern.

5) Samaritan’s Purse is a CHRISTIAN aid organization, and so operates on biblical principles. Christ commanded that we be like Him in doing good to both the just and the unjust; and that we not only love our neighbors and allies, but even our enemies (Mt.5:43-48). Doing so glorifies GOD and often opens doors to the Gospel, which, UNLIKE ANY POLITICAL SYSTEM, can change a nation from the inside out.

6) If we DO live as Christ commanded, we won’t NEED other nations to help us; we’ll not run out of resources to continue to help others around the world as well as in our own backyards, for “he who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given” (Deut. 15:6; Prov. 19:17).

7) I don’t believe it’s our government’s job to take care of us from the cradle to the grave: Let the government do its proper job, and let the Church do its job unmolested. If I am in need, I want the loving support and accountability afforded by a mature, Holy-Spirit-empowered Church that operates by the principles of the Kingdom of God, and I’M getting a bit annoyed by, if not “sick and tired of, POLITICAL FIGURES, liberal and conservative, operating in a WORLDLY MINDSET, [mis]interpreting scripture and trying to tell the Church how it should go about its business.

Ursula

I agree with you 100%.

Whackajig

Using private money for charity is the way it should be done. It seems now that our government has decided that they know better than the citizens which charities we wish to benefit.
Consultant in WA.

The Beauty of this Country is its Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we must realize what a Private Organization does with the money it collects, providing it does not break the law, is their Right. Whether or not I or you disagree, it is still their business. Do I agree with their choice? I really have no idea what transpired prior to the donation…The committment may have been agreed to, State Dept. Approval was granted prior to the Hurrican here in this Country.

We must first think clearly, do our research to ascertain all that has been done to confirm what we see in print is the correct and accurate. We then must come to realize there can be no Boreders when help is needed by those that do not have the choices we have, the Freedoms we in this Country are able to experience because of the work our Founding Fathers did years before. And finally we must be thankful for all the Blessings bestowed upon us every day.
Consultant in WA.

Do we have issues in this Country, especially issues with the current Administration? Sure we do, the current Administration would like to see this Country practice Sharia Law, Cloak Women and be totally run by the Central Government, yes, that is our current problem, however we will fix that in the next Election, in 2012, he will be gone and soon forgotton…..His appointments will live on for some time to come, but again we will correct those as well, in time.

Bottom line, there is light at the end of the Tunnel…..Which Candidate will prevail? I can say that any of the Candidates would be better than Barack Obama.
Consultant in WA.

With respect to the Debt of our Nation, it is because of the Fleecing of America that we are in Debt. Not only is the Government to blame, the problem is way bigger than just that. Let's begin with this Quote by Teddy Roosevelt, " Behind the Ostensible Government sits Enthroned a Government Acknowledging no Allegiance or owing no Responsibility to the People" It was Bureaucracy then and it's worse today. Think about this, Our State Dept is over run with Liberals, our Congressional Staffers don't always go when the elected official goes, they go on forever. Sure there are those that the Elected Official brings with them, but for the most part, the Bureaucrats train the new Officials as well as their new staffers. Then there is the matter of Lobbyist, they Draft the Legislatioin, then give it to the Staff which then shows it to the Elected Official, that's what's wrong.

Definition of Insanity? Continue doing what you've always done while expecting different results. Get it? Yes, Change is needed in Washington D.C
Gringo Infidel

Must be Bush's fault.

Oh, and we need to ban guns.

What other crappola can we add to the pot? Maybe it was Reagan's fault too.

We get the government we deserve.
linda mccarty

ANYONE WILL DO WELL TO CHECK ON THE ACTIVITIES OF SAMARITANS PURSE. YOU WILL NEVER FIND AN ORGANIZATION THAT MAKES SO MUCH GOOD USE OF THE FUNDS AVAILABLE TO THEM.THEY DO SPREAD THE WORD OF GOD THROUGH THE CHARITABLE ACTS THEY PERFORM. NO ONE IS EXCLUDED BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THEY LIVE.YOU WOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO CHECK THEM OUT, COMPLETELY. THEN YOU'LL KNOW WHAT A BLESSED ORGANIZATION THEY ARE.

Star

Linda, you are absolutely correct! Plus, this commitment may have been made prior to any of these other devastations. I know them to be a wonderful, sincere and most charitable organization and correctly, they would never not help ANY country regardless of situation–they are strictly for helping the poor and spreading the Gospel. And remember, there are many in these other countries that are not our enemies but are under a dictatorship–not being their choice. Thanks for you good and honest words!

JC McDonnell

It was widely reported on Fox a few months ago that the Koreans people would starve this winter without help because
their crops were destroyed by spring flooding. The aid has been planned for months to prevent wide spread starvation.
Was it not the command of Jesus to love your enemies and pray for those who despise you. Why do we run to military action
and mock opportunities to change the hearts of our enemies. The old proverb says I WILL HONOR THOSE WHO HONOR ME"
By caring for our enemies Samaritans Purse is planting the seeds of America's deliverance. Praise God for our ability to help others. Perhaps Our Father in Heaven will turn our circumstances because of our deeds?
William

Thanks for the info. I will remember that the next time I get a request from them. Seems like alot of these church org. like to help folks out of the states first. They went wild over in Haite.
UNChelC

I don't even know where to start with this garbage. Maybe you should try doing your research before you try to write something. Samaritan's Purse is helping out in multiple locations in the U.S. INCLUDING Vermont, New Jersey and North Carolina in response to Hurricane Irene. They're also in North Dakota, Missouri, Alabama and Alaska. All of that is pretty clear on the website. They cannot go to every single area in the U.S. that's experiencing a disaster because they aren't equipped with enough materials to do that. If you want to see that happen, maybe you could start helping them out instead of sitting around and complaining about something for which you have no knowledge.

Secondly, there is not a single verse in the Bible that says "charity starts at home." Not one. I was a study of Christianity & culture minor in college, and I know the Bible well. So please, show me where Jesus says that we should only help our own people.

The people of North Korea do not deserve to die because they are ruled by a corrupt government. It's the same as saying you don't like Obama, so you aren't going to feed the hungry people here. That's silly. If you really feel like these people do deserve to die, maybe you should examine your so-called Christian beliefs. "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." I do, in fact, believe that's in the Bible–and no, neighbor does not mean the person who lives beside of you. It includes everyone.

I typically don't comment on garbage like this, but it's just so ignorant that someone needed to say something.
Joe

Amen to that, as u say charity begins at home, we give millions. To countries who. Hat our guys but come ruunnimng to us for aid, were are they when we could use some help, I wider some times whose side our politicians are on,