PORT MERCY in Lake Charles, Louisiana is Friend Ships home base providing a place for our ships, SPIRIT, SPIRIT OF GRACE, HOPE and FEARLESS to receive care and maintenance between missions, load supplies and take on crew. This is where the ships begin their mission voyages to many nations around the world. Volunteers with a wide range of skills are needed including skills in cooking, housekeeping, grounds keeping, office and ship repair. This facility provides support operations for The Village in Roatán, conducts all main office functions of the organization and is a base of operations for the Friend Ships U.S. food outreach, Storehouse One.

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Friend Ships
"Port Mercy"

Be a part of international missions while serving right here in the U.S.A.

About Port Mercy	Interested in serving at Port Mercy
Port Mercy - Paid in Full	Tours at Port Mercy

Friend Ships Port Mercy Home Base Pictured is some of the Port Mercy location.

One of the most exciting opportunities to serve with Friend Ships is by being a vital part of our home base. This is where it all begins and ends! Every mission, every outreach is birthed at PORT MERCY.

PORT MERCY in Lake Charles, Louisiana is Friend Ships home base providing a place for our ships, “Spirit,” “Spirit of Grace,” “Hope” and "MerSea" to receive care and maintenance between missions, load supplies and take on crew. Here we are building a port facility and a center for Christian outreach around the world. This is where the ships begin their mission voyages to many nations around the world. Volunteers with a wide range of skills are needed including skills in cooking, housekeeping, grounds keeping, office and ship repair. This facility provides support operations for “The Village” in Roatán, conducts all main office functions of the organization and is a base of operations for the Friend Ships U.S. food outreach, “Storehouse One.”

Friend Ships Office Building at PORT MERCY in Louisiana.

Local Volunteer works on cleaning up on the grounds at PORT MERCY in Lake Charles Louisiana.

Friend Ships receiving wonderful donations to load on the ships and take to those in need.

FRIEND SHIPS IS OPERATED BY FULL TIME & PART TIME VOLUNTEERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WORKING WITHOUT pay to help meet the needs of the poor.

INTERESTED in serving at Port Mercy?

· Long-term & Short-term volunteer opportunities, click here for information.

· Local Calcasieu Parish Volunteer Application. For Part time placement for those that live in the Lake Charles, LA vicinity and would like to volunteer locally. To work at Friend Ships while living in your own home. Please contact us for more information if you are not sure if this is the correct application for you).

If you live in the Lake Charles, LA vicinity and would like to volunteer locally with Friend Ships, please call (337) 433-5022.

Tours (Call ahead to schedule your tour):

We would love to take you on a tour here at Port Mercy. At this time you will tour the "Spirit" ship and watch our Friend Ships video (gives a brief over view of Friend Ships). The tour take approximately an hour and a half. It is important to call ahead and schedule a tour, this will allow us to have someone available to give the tour. Call our office to speak with the tours coordinator Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. at (337) 433-5022.

Typically tours take place on Saturdays between 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. (Again you will have to call and schedule your tour before showing up).

We look forward to your visit!

READ ABOUT IT:

Dear Friends:

We have a magnificent praise report for March 2008 and so many of you have been involved in the fulfillment of this awesome miracle.

Port Mercy, our home base, is paid in full! Thanks to the Lord and to our great friends and support team. In the past 16 months, since we first began to tell you of this need, the entire amount required to pay the mortgage has been donated. Friend Ships now owns this wonderful property! As many of you know, we had a balloon payment of $450,000 due in May of this year. That has now been completed, a month in advance, and we have no further monthly payments. It is finished!

Until five years ago, Friend Ships did not have a home base capable of housing our ships, warehouses and offices in a central location. In May of 2003, we were able to obtain a contract to purchase 18 acres on the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles, Louisiana at a facility that was formerly part of the Halliburton Oil Company. The Calcasieu River is fresh, deep water and able to accommodate our ships with 1800 feet of waterfront. The facility is half a mile off the I-10 Freeway, readily accessible for trucks with railroad access right into the property. It has three warehouses and room to build many more with a maintenance center and an office building.

Life for Friend Ships has been revolutionized by having an adequate base from which to plant roots and launch out to send aid all over the world. From this little 18 acres, great ships of war go out to fight against need, to spread His love, His mercy and His joy. Port Mercy is a permanent sea port like no other, devoted to reaching the lost and hungry, planting seeds around the world that help shape the lives of millions of children, filling their bellies, and committed to mercy. It is now tax free and owned by Friend Ships, a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization dedicated to expressing God’s love through helping people in need. It is the Lord’s launching pad - sending out ships to fight against starvation and poverty, to meet people in their need during times of disaster and to bring medical aid when they are sick.

How can we ever thank you and express our gratitude to the Lord Jesus for making this dream come true? When we started this ministry 22 years ago with $38 and a dream, He spoke to our hearts that as we followed the call, He would provide our needs. We are here to tell you that He is faithful beyond our wildest thoughts and expectations. Not once in these 22 years has the Lord let us down. The provision of Port Mercy is a great gift from Him and from you to Friend Ships and to the poor. It is a gift that will benefit people in need for decades to come.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Our deepest love and gratitude,

Don and Sondra Tipton

Updated April 2008