Father Chris Comerford, pastor of St. Louis Parish in Nokomis for the past six years, learned about starting the alliance at the 2007 priest’s convocation in Springfield. During that time he and other priests visited the Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach and spoke with its president and chief operating officer Bruce Compton.

“Father Chris said they’d try to do something and this is what they did,” said Compton, who founded Mission Outreach in 2002 with the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. Mission Outreach is a Springfield-based not-for-profit corporation, which responds to the sick, poor and needy through a medical surplus recovery and redistribution program that addresses the needs of people throughout the world. It matches surplus items from organizations in the United States with the needs of healthcare providers around the globe.

Working with St. Louis parishioners were members of First Baptist Church of Nokomis, United Methodist Church of Nokomis, South Fork United Methodist Church and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Volunteers came together to hold mostaccioli dinners, food stands, bake sales, aluminum can collections and other events to help raise the money. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes collected $660 by asking for donations at the four-way stop in Nokomis.

Father Comerford said he was glad to see the project completed before he moved on to become pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish in Granite City July 1. In fact, he was in the middle of packing up his own books in the rectory when he and several others from the various churches drove to Springfield to see the truck to Quito loaded on June 18.

“Our goal was to raise $20,000 and we reached over $27,300,” Father Comerford said. “Just think, with that money we are able to send what it would cost $131,000 to buy. Plus, this was equipment that might have just as easily ended up in a landfill somewhere.”

Compton, a Nokomis native, said he was naturally pleased to see the project was so successful. “The majority of people in the United States do not understand the poverty that plagues much of the world,” he said. “It makes me proud to think that the pastors from my hometown not only understand this poverty, but are willing to do something about it.” The Nokomis Ministerial Alliance shipment was the 44th and last shipment of fiscal year 2009, Compton said.

He explained that the TriMedx Foundation of Indianapolis will install the equipment upon arrival in Quito. TriMedx, a biomedical company which regularly sends teams to Mission Outreach to test and repair equipment, also sends teams to Quito to assist at Un Canto a la Vida. Following the delivery of this project’s medical equipment, which will reach Quito in early July, TriMedx and Mission Outreach will continue to provide ongoing support for the items provided by the Nokomis initiative.

“People need to understand that Mission Outreach is not just a Springfield thing. People from all over can help,” Father Comerford said. “I am just kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing.”