Smyrna Rotary And Mercy Ships
2/2016 – Pauline Rick, Mercy Ships’ U. S. Public Relations Coordinator, talks about what Mercy Ships do:
“Mercy Ships owns and operates the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest private hospital ship. This floating hospital has five state-of-the-art operating rooms and is staffed by 400 surgeons, nurses, doctors, physical therapists, cooks, accountants, agriculturalists and others. They come from 40 nations to donate their time and skills to treat, free of charge, an astonishing number of health problems for people in need all along the coast of Africa.”
“Thanks to donations from corporate partners and our selfless medical volunteers, every dollar you give triples in impact,” exclaims Rick. “That’s because your gifts are matched by gift in kind corporate donations and donated volunteer hours.”
Smyrna Rotary have a history of being involved with Mercy Ships. The man behind these projects is long-time Smyrna Rotarian Raymond G. Coffman, Manager of Pastoral Care at WellStar Cobb Hospital in Austell. He has also led Smyrna Rotary on wheelchair projects, a project to provide crutches to needy children and more.
Says Coffman, “This was the Holiday 2015 International Project for the Smyrna Rotary Club. Our club decided set a goal of raising $1,000 for the Africa Mercy now stationed in Madagascar. Though more checks are still coming, to date we have raised $1,075.” The amount raised by the club several years ago was similar.