Make a Change Where It Matters Most in the World.
Be a Samaritan. Change a Life.
Globally, 1 out of 10 people live on less than $2 a day.
In desperation, people turn to garbage dumps to survive.
These dumpsites are dangerous and poorly regulated with waste spilling into the surrounding communities.
Settlements near these dumpsites are home to refugees, lepers, abuse victims, orphans, and other extraordinarily vulnerable groups.
When people have no other way to survive, they turn to dumpsites and dig through trash to find recyclables and other items to sell or use. The majority of the people laboring in these dumpsites are single mothers, women who feel they have no other way to provide for their children.
Let’s give them some other options.
Be a Samaritan. Stop and help.
You can stop and help change a life by becoming a Samaritan. Since 1994, International Samaritan has been connecting Samaritans like you, who have a calling to help, to families who live in and next to garbage dumps around the world. Together, we’re breaking the chains of poverty and improving all our lives.
Holistic Scholarships
Our scholarships cover not only school fees, but help with essential expenses, basic medical care, and other costs that push students to drop out of school.
Safe Water & Safe Spaces
We prioritize bringing clean water and a safe meeting place to settlements next to garbage dumps that struggle with sanitation and violence.
Learn, Serve, Grow
Families, schools, and churches in the U.S. commit to year-long partnerships to learn about our communities and help our scholars break out of poverty.
The Entire School Year
Make your gift monthly and support International Samaritan Scholars throughout the entire school year. Your gifts are used for tuition, school uniforms, school supplies, food baskets, and basic health and wellness services.
Your Impact Lasts For Generations
As a Samaritan, you’re integral in building the Samaritans for Life network, our growing group of graduates who are changing lives. Each year, about 50 Samaritan Scholars graduate from college or trade school with a shared commitment to:
- Love God with their whole heart, soul, body and mind.
- Love their neighbor as Jesus loves them.
- Raise their family to do the same.
The Samaritan scholarship program is dedicated to growing these exemplary young people so they can lead their communities.
International Samaritan News
Jamaica Will Rise Again
At my teacher's college last fall, one of my professors lectured about what it means to be a good citizen. We talked about the importance of volunteering. Then on October 28, 2025, Hurricane Melissa made landfall, causing severe damage to western Jamaica. Families...
Dust Took My Sight
My name is Mikias. I was born and raised in Gojjam, in a remote Ethiopian village called Wadal. I used to spend hours outside, helping my dad with farming, playing with friends, or following my mom whenever she went.I remember the wind blowing dirt into my eyes until...
The Joy That Unites Us
Here in Villa Guadalupe, it is a season full of color, street lights, nativity scenes in homes, and decorations that brighten every corner of the country. Our festivities began with the Novenas to Purísima Concepción de María (Novena to the Immaculate Conception) on...
The dump is very dangerous. Even the garbage trucks don’t stop for us. They run us over without a second thought. They call us rats. To them, we’re worth less than the garbage.
Even though we live in different places, we share many struggles and triumphs. I now know more about both myself and others.
I’ve been involved with International Samaritan for probably close to 20 years. I cannot imagine a better organization to support than this one. This is a life-changing organization.
The Samaritan Promise
International Samaritan is a Christ-centered organization built on Catholic Social Teaching. As followers of Christ, we serve anyone, regardless of religious belief or practice. One hundred percent of all donations since 2019 have gone directly to services in developing nations, made possible by the generosity of our founding families since 1994.
