Supporter: Dan O'Neill

Partners In Mercy are the lifeblood of Mercy Corps. They're the donors who give monthly — in any amount — to touch children and families around the world with help and hope. It might be a quarter a day, a dollar a day, a few bucks a day, or more. Whatever the amount, these donors have made a commitment to make a positive difference around the world through life-changing programs.

I myself am a Partner In Mercy — or a PIM, as we refer to them in the office. Because they’re so critical to our work, each year I call hundreds of my fellow PIMs to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for their contributions.

To bring more joy and hope to children in 2012, we're trying to bring 212 new monthly donors into our fold. We can be a part of something greater than ourselves. Click here to become a Partner In Mercy today. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

During those conversations I'm frequently asked this question:

Can my small gift really make a difference, when the needs around the world are so great?

My response: an enthusiastic "YES!"

When I founded Mercy Corps, I chose the word "corps" to signify the power of what we can accomplish together. We can be a part of something greater than ourselves. And with so many partners pulling together, any donation, large or small, is combined with other gifts to save and improve lives of families in desperate need around the world.

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Even in the midst of high-pressure humanitarian work and constant news of global catastrophes, our team manages to occasionally get together to reflect on our friendships and history.

From left: Mickie Porcelli, Jerry Dines, Steve Zimmerman, Amy Palmer, Dale Jones, Simon Miller, Peter Dickinson. Not pictured: Dan O'Neill. Photo: Dan O'Neill/Mercy Corps

Our Chief Financial Officer Steve Zimmerman (I call him "the incomparable Dr. Z") quietly puts out invitations to Mercy Corps alums and long-timers to hang out together over lunch. It was my privilege to join the group in Tigard, Oregon, on July 20. As I surveyed the small group I asked, "So how many years of service are gathered around the table today, Dr. Z?"

As I later calculated, it was nearly 140 years between the eight attendees. That's a lot of experience! I bet we could reach 500 years next year — if we could force our peripatetic CEO, Neal Keny-Guyer, to take another look at his travel schedule and join the fun.

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Sudan, 1984. Photo: Jon Warren for Mercy Corps

I first encountered extreme poverty and hunger in 1972 when I drove through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia on a church mission trip. It struck me in the heart and I felt helpless. Then, in June, 1980, I went to Somalia with a Seattle-based non-governmental organization, World Concern, to observe a new, unfolding famine.

In the Hargeisa region, I hiked through desert heat to visit refugee camps, swelling as beleaguered, thirsty, hungry children and families stumbled out of an oven-hot desert with tales of attack, torture and death at the hands of merciless bands of armed men and boys (yes, 12-year-olds packing AK-47s).

My camera clicked on June 9 as famine refugees streamed out of the Ogaden on weakened camels, donkeys and on foot. Underneath their richly colored flowing scarves and robes, wrinkled, withered faces and stick-limbs protruded. Animal carcasses littered the fine sand which the hot wind whipped over everything, a gritty powder creating a cocoa-colored monochromatic drape, mercifully shrouding the withered skulls of the dead.

There was a chorus of moans amidst the mass suffering. Babies were not crying. Pockets of doctors and nurses tended to those who could be saved: feeding, rehydrating with I.V. fluids and comforting as best they could. They were overwhelmed.

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Mercy Corps Founder Dan O'Neill, left, and CEO Neal Keny-Guyer finally meet in Jerusalem after 28 years of near misses. Photo: Aleksander Milutinovic for Mercy Corps

I plunged into the broiling cauldron of the Middle East in 1973 — six years before I founded Mercy Corps — as an volunteer on a Galilee Kibbutz. My colleague Neal Keny-Guyer, Mercy Corps' CEO, entered the fray in Lebanon in 1982 as the Regional Director for Save the Children. Turns out we were both there at the same time. Before that, we were in Thailand-based Cambodian refugee camps but never meet.

Neal and I first met in 1994 when he interviewed for the new CEO position in Mercy Corps' Portland headquarters. We discussed our shared travels and high interest in the Middle East. One day, we predicted, we would be together in "the eternal city" — Jerusalem.

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Dan O'Neill with Tasneem, 13, a special needs student at the Mercy Corps-sponsored girls' school in Beit Rima, West Bank. Photo: Andy Dwonch/Mercy Corps

Little 13-year-old Tasneem immediately captured my heart with her big smile.

Developmentally disabled, she is a "special needs" student at the Mercy Corps-sponsored Beit Rima girls' school. Since coming to the school, she has made enormous progress. Once locked away at home, she now joins in all school activities and smiles a lot more. She is blonde and blue-eyed — which is very unusual for Palestinians — shy and very small for her age.

The West Bank town of Beit Rima has suffered significantly amidst the heated tumult of the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With many of the men imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces, the women have been forced into bearing very heavy family and economic loads.

Mercy Corps stepped into the gap by funding and managing two boys' schools and two girls' schools. Khaled — a Mercy Corps program leader and certified psychologist — explains that a high percentage of children suffer some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. No surprise.

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