Mercy Ships uses hospital ships to provide free life-changing medical care, including major surgery, for children and adults in Africa. In fact, it operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world. The Mercy Ships Yachting Day Gala is set for September to support dozens of surgeries—and you’re invited.
This black-tie event is set for September 10 at the Carlton Cannes during the Cannes Yachting Festival. Having close connections with the cargo industry, Mercy Ships saw yachting as a next logical step. In fact, Cargo Day is an annual fundraiser during which shipping companies donate financially or via in-kind services. According to Mercy Ships, over the past nine years, the event has raised upwards of $15 million.
Sam Wagner, who heads global corporate initiatives for Mercy Ships, says the Mercy Ships Yachting Day Gala isn’t a one-time event. “It’s going to be the kickoff of an initiative we want to build together with the yachting industry,” she explains. She credits Bob Allen, the founder of Robert Allen Law, with getting it off the ground. “He’s the one who said, ‘We need to create a movement within the yachting industry, do something good together,’” she adds.
It didn’t take long for Allen to get things moving once he was approached. “There are a lot of good causes,” he says, “but this is a cause that is of the oceans.” More so, it’s “an oceangoing project, a mercy project.” In supporting it, “I think it would bring out the best in the yachting industry, and it would also show the world” how yachting has a positive impact, starting with how it creates jobs.
Simultaneously, there’s a bigger picture to what Mercy Ships does, Allen notes. “Everywhere you go around here (in the United States), there’s an urgent-care clinic, stand-alone emergency rooms, and hospitals,” he says. “People have no idea how well off we are.” He then picks up a book about Mercy Ships, flipping quickly past several pages to find a specific page he has in mind. Upon finding it, he stops and points to a photo of a young man with severely deformed legs, bent backwards. This same man underwent surgery aboard one of Mercy Ships’ hospital vessels. “How can you not care?” Allen asks. “It’s not possible not to care about people whose lives have changed through this. How can you not care when you fix things like this?”
From severe deformities to cleft palates, tumors, and more, the all-volunteer surgical staffs aboard the ships rely on donations. The Mercy Ships Yachting Day Gala will include an auction, allowing bidders to fund specific numbers of surgeries. For perspective, Allen says that just $1,500 can cover three surgeries.
Mercy Ships Yachting Day Gala tickets start at €1,500. To secure individual tickets or tables, email Robert Allen Law’s office. “It can be a movement together,” Wagner says. “I think there’s something powerful behind that.”
Mercy Ships mercyships.org
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