I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6221 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Don Stephens, President and Founder of Mercy Ships, in recognition of his 38 years of service as the 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 

Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. 

MCCAUL, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. 

BARTON, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. GENE

GREEN of Texas, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. 

MARCHANT, Mr. OLSON, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. 

CARTER of Texas, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. RATCLIFFE, 

and Mr. HURD of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Don Stephens, 

President and Founder of Mercy Ships, in recognition 

of his 38 years of service as the leader 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: 


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

2 worked in more than 70 countries, providing services 

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

4 2.56 million direct beneficiaries. 

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

6 largest private hospital ship, the Africa Mercy that 

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

8 bed space for 82 patients. 

9 (3) Mercy Ships vessels are staffed by profes10 sional volunteer crew including surgeons, nurses, 

11 doctors, dentists, cooks, engineers, agriculturalists, 

12 teachers, and others. 

13 (4) Mercy Ships has performed more than 

14 82,000 life-changing or life-saving operations such 

15 as cleft lip and palate repair, cataract removal, or16 thopedic procedures, facial reconstruction, obstetric 

17 fistula repair, and tumor removal. 

18 (5) Mercy Ships has treated over 147,000 den19 tal patients including over 390,000 dental proce20 dures. 

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

22 local professionals (including surgeons) who have in 

23 turn trained many others. 

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

25 professionals in their area of expertise including anVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Oct 05, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6221.IH H6221

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1 esthesiology, midwifery, sterilization, orthopedic and 

2 reconstructive surgery, and leadership, thereby in3 creasing medical capacity in the host nation. 

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

5 people in basic health care. 

6 (9) Mercy Ships has completed over 1,100 in7 frastructure development projects focusing on water 

8 and sanitation education, agriculture and construc9 tion projects which improve local health care delivery 

10 systems. 

11 (10) Annually, Mercy Ships has over 1,600 vol12 unteers who help in locations around the world, 900 

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

14 are more than 400 crew from 40 nations onboard 

15 the Africa Mercy. 

16 (11) The Africa Mercy alone has had over 

17 4,900 crew from 74 countries serve onboard since its 

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

19 Day Workers from 12 different countries have 

20 served alongside since it first docked in Africa. 

21 (12) Mercy Ships has served some of the 

22 world’s poorest populations and completed over 589 

23 port visits in 55 developing nations and 18 developed 

24 nations for a total of 73 nations including: Aus25 tralia, Bahamas, Benin, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, 


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1 Canada, China, Congo Brazzaville, Columbia, Cuba, 

2 Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Esto3 nia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, France, Gabon, The Gam4 bia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, 

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

6 Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, 

7 Korea, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Madagascar, 

8 Malta, Mexico, Montserrat, The Netherlands, New 

9 Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pan10 ama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Rus11 sia, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, 

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

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

14 Tonga, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, the United 

15 States, and Vanuatu. 

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

17 four hospital ships that have served in some of the 

18 poorest ports in the world. Those include: 

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

20 world’s largest nongovernmental hospital ship 

21 and is dedicated to the continent of Africa. 

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

23 ship, and completed her first relief mission in 

24 1982 to Guatemala. Her crew of 400 worked in 

25 Africa until she was decommissioned in 2007. 


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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. 


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

3 Desmund 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 Stephens, President 

13 and Founder 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, 


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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 


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