Mark Gerson and his wife Rabbi Erica Gerson will be giving $5 million over the next 10 years to fund Christian mission teaching hospitals across Africa.
"The Torah tells us, more than it tells us anything else, it tells us 36 times in various ways, to love the stranger," Mark told CBN News. "When my wife, who is a rabbi, and I think about how best we can discharge that Jewish obligation to love the stranger, we are drawn to the most effective and efficient way to do so which is to support the Christian medical missionaries who are providing care to the poor in Africa."
The Gerson couple have been working with Africa Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMH), while according to medical experts, Christian missionary hospitals provide one-third of the medical care in Africa. Mark stressed that "These institutions are not only a vital lifeline, but they are often the only place where the poor in Africa can come to get any kind of medical care."
"Mission hospitals are increasingly offering advanced training to surgeons, family physicians, pediatricians and mid-level providers, such as nurse anesthetists," Dr. Jon Fielder, co-founder of AMH, wrote in a statement to CBN News. "Trainees come to these educational centers of excellence from the host and neighboring countries."
"This incredible gift from the Gersons will allow us to support two young, growing mission teaching hospitals, and each of those facilities will receive $250,000 every year for 10 years to help them solve a variety of problems like water, power and internet and scholarships for their workers and housing," Fielder claimed.