II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2714 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Don and Deyon Stephens, Founders 

of Mercy Ships, in recognition of nearly 40 years of service as the 

leaders of a humanitarian relief organization that exemplifies the compassionate character of America. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2018 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Don and Deyon 

Stephens, Founders of Mercy Ships, in recognition of 

nearly 40 years of service as the leaders of a humanitarian relief organization that exemplifies the compassionate character of America. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and has 

6 worked in more than 70 countries, providing services 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2714 IS

1 valued at more than $1.3 billion, treating more than 

2 2.56 million direct beneficiaries. 

3 (2) Mercy Ships owns and operates the world’s 

4 largest private hospital ship, the Africa Mercy that 

5 has five state-of-the-art operating rooms and ward 

6 bed space for 82 patients. 

7 (3) Mercy Ships vessels are staffed by profes8 sional volunteer crew including surgeons, nurses, 

9 doctors, dentists, cooks, engineers, agriculturalists, 

10 teachers, and others. 

11 (4) Mercy Ships has performed more than 

12 82,000 life-changing or life-saving operations such 

13 as cleft lip and palate repair, cataract removal, or14 thopedic procedures, facial reconstruction, obstetric 

15 fistula repair, and tumor removal. 

16 (5) Mercy Ships has treated over 147,000 den17 tal patients including over 390,000 dental proce18 dures. 

19 (6) Mercy Ships has trained more than 5,900 

20 local professionals (including surgeons) who have in 

21 turn trained many others. 

22 (7) Mercy Ships has trained over 38,100 local 

23 professionals in their area of expertise including an24 esthesiology, midwifery, sterilization, orthopedic and 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2714 IS

1 reconstructive surgery, and leadership, thereby in2 creasing medical capacity in the host nation. 

3 (8) Mercy Ships has taught over 198,000 local 

4 people in basic health care. 

5 (9) Mercy Ships has completed over 1,100 in6 frastructure development projects focusing on water 

7 and sanitation education, agriculture and construc8 tion projects which improve local health care delivery 

9 systems. 

10 (10) Annually, Mercy Ships has over 1,600 vol11 unteers who help in locations around the world, 900 

12 of which serve in Africa. At any given time, there 

13 are more than 400 crew from 40 nations onboard 

14 the Africa Mercy. 

15 (11) The Africa Mercy alone has had over 

16 4,900 crew from 74 countries serve onboard since its 

17 inception in 2007. In addition, more than 950 local 

18 Day Workers from 12 different countries have 

19 served alongside since it first docked in Africa. 

20 (12) Mercy Ships has served some of the 

21 world’s poorest populations and completed over 589 

22 port visits in 55 developing nations and 18 developed 

23 nations for a total of 73 nations including: Aus24 tralia, Bahamas, Benin, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, 

25 Canada, China, Congo Brazzaville, Columbia, Cuba, 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2714 IS

1 Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Esto2 nia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, France, Gabon, The Gam3 bia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, 

4 Guinea (West Africa), Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, 

5 Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, 

6 Korea, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Madagascar, 

7 Malta, Mexico, Montserrat, The Netherlands, New 

8 Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pan9 ama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Rus10 sia, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, 

11 South Africa, Spain, St. Eustatius (NL), St. Kitts, 

12 St. Thomas, St. Vincent, Sweden, Tahiti, Togo, 

13 Tonga, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, the United 

14 States, and Vanuatu. 

15 (13) Through the years, Mercy Ships has had 

16 four hospital ships that have served in some of the 

17 poorest ports in the world. Those include: 

18 (A) The 16,500-ton Africa Mercy is the 

19 world’s largest nongovernmental hospital ship 

20 and is dedicated to the continent of Africa. 

21 (B) The 522-foot Anastasis was the flag 

22 ship, and completed her first relief mission in 

23 1982 to Guatemala. Her crew of 400 worked in 

24 Africa until she was decommissioned in 2007. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2714 IS

1 (C) Acquired in 1994, the 265-foot Carib2 bean Mercy with her crew of 150 focused on the 

3 Caribbean basin and Central America with its 

4 Eye Surgery Unit. The ship was sold in 2006. 

5 (D) Donated in 1983, the 172-foot Good 

6 Samaritan served the Caribbean, Central and 

7 South America for 11 years with a crew of 60. 

8 Renamed the Island Mercy, she was redeployed 

9 to the South Pacific in 1994 and served there 

10 until sold in 2001. 

11 (E) Mercy Ships is currently building a 

12 new hospital ship to serve Africa’s most needy 

13 for the next 50 years with delivery expected in 

14 2018. The new vessel, larger than the Africa 

15 Mercy, will assume the title of world’s largest 

16 private hospital ship with increased capacity 

17 building and a focus on healthcare training. It 

18 will also further the commitment of Mercy 

19 Ships to provide and promote through teaching, 

20 safe surgery globally as demonstrated by their 

21 membership in the G4 Alliance. 

22 (14) Mercy Ships has hosted Presidents and 

23 other heads of state from many nations around the 

24 world onboard their hospital ships who commended 

25 the free health care provided to their people. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2714 IS

1 (15) Mercy Ships has been endorsed by Presi2 dent Nelson Mandela, President George Bush, 

3 Desmond Tutu, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Sir 

4 John Major, President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, 

5 Tony Blair, President Jimmy Carter and First Lady 

6 Mary Flake de Flores. 

7 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

8 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

9 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem10 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

11 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 

12 medal of appropriate design to Don and Deyon Stephens, 

13 Founders of Mercy Ships. 

14 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

15 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

16 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec17 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

18 devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec19 retary. 

20 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

21 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

22 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

23 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

24 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2714 IS

1 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

2 and the cost of the gold medal. 

3 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

4 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu5 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

6 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

7 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

8 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

9 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

10 items. 

Æ 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS