MSC Mariners Collect Money, Supplies for Earthquake Victims

USNS MERCY (NNS) -- Military Sealift Command (MSC) civilian mariners aboard hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), combat stores ships USNS Niagara Falls (T-AFS 3) and USNS San Jose (T-AFS 7), and underway replenishment oiler USNS Yukon (T-AO 202) collected more than $3,800 for patients being treated aboard Mercy in the aftermath of the March 28 earthquake that struck Nias Island, Indonesia.

Mercy and her supply ships have been providing humanitarian assistance to the island since April 5.

Mercy’s Master, Capt. Michael R. Leahy, put out the call for donations after talking with Mercy’s combined U.S. Navy and Non-governmental Organization Project HOPE medical staff, and compiling a list of items needed by the patients aboard, specifically the children.

“I sent out an e-mail to the masters of the Niagara Falls, San Jose and Yukon to chip in some money,” said Leahy. The list of requested items included playpens, car seats, baby bottles, pacifiers, toys, clothing, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and soap.

“Word spread quickly and collections were taken from the entire crews,” continued Leahy. “Almost $4,000 was raised in just a few days.”

In contrast to U.S. Navy combatant ships that have much larger crews, Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships are crewed by a small number of civil service mariners. The 400-person crew of a single Navy cruiser nearly equals the number of mariners aboard Mercy, Niagara Falls, San Jose and Yukon combined.

Yukon’s crew, in port in Saesbo, Japan, April 17-19, shopped for the supplies and transferred them to Mercy during a vertical replenishment operation conducted April 21.

“Seeing the joy on the kids’ faces as they held their new stuffed animals, seeing a teenager wearing a new shirt and a parent place their infant in a car seat to be fed is something I’ll never forget,” said Leahy after Mercy’s mariners handed out the gifts to patients in the wards.

Master of Niagara Falls, Capt. Dan LaPorte, said that operating alongside Mercy in Nias has been rewarding work because they get to see actual progress with the people they are assisting.

“I think the fact that over $2,100 was collected from my crew and that we have a steady supply of crew members that desire to go ashore in support of community relations operations speaks volumes about how dedicated this crew is to the mission,” said LaPorte.

He also noted that investing their own time and money into the lives of the people of Nias will have a lasting impact on the Niagara Falls crew, as well as their captain.

“I will forever have a connection with the island of Nias,” said LaPorte. “Instead of simply a place on the [navigation] chart that we pass from time to time, I will always think of the children here and their welfare.”

MSC operates more than 120 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, chart ocean bottoms, conduct undersea surveillance, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military equipment and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces.

For more news from around the fleet, visit www.navy.mil.