Cooke founded the charity Operation Christmas Child (now Samaritan's Purse) in 1990[2] and developed, then worked for, the biggest shoebox programme in the world.
[citation needed] In October 1990, Cooke was having a meal with a good friend John Roberts and suggested they take a truck to Romania with aid for the orphans there.
[10] In December 1990, a convoy of 9 trucks departed Wrexham through a crowd of support with a marching band,[11] heading for Romania with over £600,000 of aid.
In 2006, Cooke founded Teams4U, an international humanitarian aid charity based in Wrexham who take volunteers overseas to facilitate health, education, training and empowerment programs in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
[14] In 2013, Teams4U launched its own national shoebox program bringing Christmas gifts to deprived children in Eastern Europe.