Mission of the Month

Jeanne Hilbe RN and The Mercy Ships

Jeanne is an RN who worked with Alita in the Kern River Chapter of APIC (Association of Practitioners in Infection Control). Jeanne is a very strong Christian who is on a faith walk since her husband died of a chronic illness in 2004. Jeanne gave up her job as the Infection Control nurse at the Health South Rehabilitation Hospital in Bakersfield and began a new career. She has joined the mission field as a nurse for the Mercy Ships.

Since Jeanne must fund her missionary tern 100%, including travel expenses, room, board and medical insurance, we have adopted her and Mercy Ships as our Mission of the Month for March.

Mercy Ships, a global charity, has operated a growing fleet of hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Following the example of Jesus, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor, mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard for race, gender or religion. Its goal is to serve one million people a year.

Since 1978, Mercy Ships has impacted over 5.5 million people; delivered more than $21 million of medical equipment, hospital supplies and medicines; completed close to 350 construction and agriculture projects including schools, clinics, orphanages and waterwells; and demonstrated the love of God to people in 95 ports in 53 developing nations

One of the reasons Mercy Ships accomplishes so much is because career and short-term volunteers raise their own support and pay crew fees to serve. 850 career staff and over 1600 short-term volunteers from over 40 nations join together to serve the poor and needy.

Mercy Ships follows the 2,00 year-old model of Jesus: the blind see, the lame walk, the mute speak, and Good news (the nature and character of a loving God) is proclaimed and demonstrated among the poor.

Mercy Ships welcomes volunteers who would like to give of their time, efforts and expertise to the work of bringing hope and healing to the poor.

Short-term volunteers can participate from two weeks to a year with Mercy Ships, while others may choose to serve in a career capacity.

Since 1978, Mercy Ships has: Performed more than 18,000 operations such as cleft lip and palate, cataract removal, straightening of crossed-eyes, orthopaedic and facial reconstruction. Treated more than 300,000 people in village medical clinics. Performed 110,000 dental treatments. Taught over 5500 local health card and professional workers, who have in turn trained multiple thousands in primary health care. Trained local medical professionals in modern health care techniques to carry on after the ship leaves. Completed close to 350 construction and agriculture projects including schools, clinics, orphanages and waterwells. Demonstrated the love of God to people in 95 ports and in 53 developing nations