Steve Moore, retired music executive and founder of The Shalom Foundation was recognized as a Peace Ambassador by the Ministry of International Affairs on August 25, 2017, in Guatemala City. The prestigious award is presented to citizens or foreigners who have significantly contributed to peace in the Central America nation.
During an official ceremony attended by the First Lady Morales, Moore shared, “I thought I was going to Guatemala to change the lives of others, but it was my life that was changed.” Moore was also given the honor to participate in The Rose of Peace Ceremony, a symbolic act of changing a white rose on the Palm of Peace monument which signifies the signing of the ceasefire to end the Guatemalan civil war in 1996.
Moore was honored for his work with The Shalom Foundation, a Franklin, Tennessee based Christian nonprofit focused on providing medical and surgical care to impoverished children living in Guatemala. He first visited Guatemala nearly 20 years ago. Through the years, the organization built homes and schools, sponsored educational programs, installed clean water systems, helped combat chronic malnutrition and much more. While the ministry continued, the mission shifted to address the significant medical needs of underprivileged children by establishing the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center in 2011.
The Moore Center, located in Guatemala City, is a 12,000 square-foot modern facility with three operating rooms and 24 inpatient recovery beds. It organizes medical mission teams from across the United States to provide medical care and life-changing surgeries to impoverished children in Guatemala. They partner with local doctors and nurses to prescreen patients and provide follow-up care.
“Steve Moore’s accomplishments to provide surgery to the children of Guatemala are monumental. The next generation of children will be healthier and more productive than prior generations because of his effort” said Ken Moore, MD, Medical Director of The Shalom Foundation. “No one can put a monetary value on the influence he has had on the Country of Guatemala and its people.”
The Moore Center is the only one of its kind in Guatemala. Without it, these children would not have access and would go untreated. Steve Moore questions, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” Since its inception, the Moore Center has provided healing and hope to thousands of children and focused its attention on a country where critical medical care is widely unavailable to the 59 percent of the population below the poverty line.
