Operation Blessing Expands Effort as Search and Rescue Teams Depart Venezuela
Two weeks after a pair of devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela, little hope remains that anyone will be pulled alive from the rubble. The death toll now stands at more than 3,600 people, and tens of thousands are still missing or injured.
International search and rescue teams in Venezuela are heading home. As the nation looks to help the survivors, Operation Blessing Disaster Relief is on the ground, expanding its mission to provide earthquake survivors with tents, medical relief, food, and water.
OB volunteers are serving up and distributing hot meals daily at more than 40 locations – 13,000 meals were served during a four-day period.
* Operation Blessing is providing disaster relief to earthquake victims in Venezuela. Click here to help. *
Displaced Venezuelan Samantha Valadia volunteered to help in an OB kitchen.
"The earthquake was truly horrible, and I'm grateful to be part of the team serving food, for both the homeless people and the rescuers," she said. "Serving a plate of food is a delicate thing. The help Operation Blessing is providing is really good, and they keep everything hygienic, clean, and well organized."
OB volunteer medical teams are expanding their outreach, too.
Dr. Marcos and a local physician provided healthcare for 75 displaced residents in the city of Junquito and 60 more patients near a destroyed hospital.
A piece of concrete fell and injured Isabel Molina's shoulder as she fled her crumbling apartment building with her baby in her arms.
She is thankful for the help she's received.
"May God greatly bless everyone who has come to help us here. Thank you so much. I have seen God's love in them. I truly have," she said.
* Donate here to help Operation Blessing bring relief and hope to earthquake survivors in Venezuela *
About The Author
Mr. Lane served as International News Director and Senior International Correspondent for CBN News. He traveled to more than 120 countries—many of them restricted nations or areas hostile to Christianity and other minority faiths where he has interviewed persecution victims and provided video reports and analysis for CBN News. Also, he provided written stories and served as a consultant for the Voice of the Martyrs.
Gary joined The Christian Broadcasting Network in 1984 as the first full-time Middle East Correspondent for CBN News. Based in Jerusalem, Gary produced reports from Beirut on the Lebanese civil war. He was reassigned to Washington, D.C., at the start of President Reagan’s second term and served as National Security Correspondent from the U.S. State Department, Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the White House.
Gary left CBN briefly in 1988 to work as Senior Press Secretary for Pat Robertson’s presidential campaign. Afterward, he returned to Washington and served as Washington Bureau Chief for CBN News from 1989-1992.
Gary transferred to CBN headquarters in Virginia Beach in 1996, where he began more extensive international traveling and reporting as a Senior Correspondent.
In addition to his extensive reporting on Christian persecution, Gary is also known for his reporting on the civil war in Sudan. He made 20 trips to the country since 1993 and also testified before Congress about the plight of Burmese refugees.
Gary produced numerous documentaries, including Americans Abandoned for the American Defense Institute, which afforded him the opportunity to become the first American journalist granted access to the Vietnamese Defense and Cultural Film archives. The investigative film about American POWs featured Vietnam War footage never seen before by Americans.
Gary also produced several persecution documentaries, including one about Christians in Egypt for Freedom House—Their Blood Cries Out—and another about attacks in Indonesia for The Voice of the Martyrs—Island Jihad. He also worked as a production consultant and videographer for the VOM video specials Underground Reality Vietnam and Underground Reality Colombia.
Over the years, Gary covered wars in Lebanon, Israel, Nicaragua, Angola, Burma, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Colombia, Libya, and Syria. He won several awards, including one from the National Gulf War Resource Center for his groundbreaking investigative reporting of Gulf War Illness, an affliction affecting veterans of Operation Desert Storm. The Australian Evangelical Press Association gave him an award for his reporting of a church massacre that occurred in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, shortly after 9-11.
Gary left CBN in 2000 to join the Voice of The Martyrs as their News Director, where he directed the mission’s multimedia efforts. Those included the website, monthly newsletter, video productions, publications, press releases, and media interviews.
Gary rejoined CBN in late 2003 as International News Director/Senior Correspondent. He served as executive producer of three weekly international news programs: Christian World News (CWN); Mundo Cristiano, a Spanish version of CWN produced in Costa Rica; and an Arabic language version of CWN, CWN Arabic, which was broadcast throughout North Africa and the Middle East. He also hosted and produced the weekly CBN News Channel program, The Global Lane.
Prior to CBN, Gary worked for various local television stations in Michigan, including one owned by Time Inc. and another by Knight-Ridder. Before that, he worked at local radio stations in Flint and Detroit.
Gary is a 1979 honors graduate of The University of Michigan, Flint, where he served as political editor of The University News, studied pre-law, and received an A.B. in political science and history.
