Seventeen countries, one mission

He’s hiked for miles to reach Costa Rican tribes in the jungle, felt his hotel shake as a bomb exploded blocks away and crossed paths taken by kidnappers days before, and he’s done it all alone.

Jorge Moreno, a Kissimmee resident and barber at Kennedy’s All American Barber Club in Winter Park, has done all of this and more in the name of charity.

In 20 years, he’s gone on mission trips to 11 countries sharing his Christian beliefs, supplying clothing and medicine, building homes and churches, and most of all, inspiring hope.

“There’s so much need around the world,” Moreno said.

To learn more about Jorge Moreno’s trip, and to donate to his cause, click here.

Driving around the world

On March 1, Moreno plans to leave his home once again for what he hopes will be an around-the-world missionary trip, visiting 17 countries, from Puerto Rico to Japan, in about five months.

He’ll do it all in a passenger van he’s modified to house a bed and sink. He estimates the whole trip will cost more than $47,000. He’s only raised $18,000, but he’s not worried a bit.

“Wherever my last dollar will take me, that’s where my last destination will be,” he said.

Most of that — $12,000 — has come out of Moreno’s own pocket, but to him, this mission is worth more than any material item.

“We get caught up in this societal pressure to acquire things, to be able to show the world that we have this and we have that, and yet we become slaves to the things we own,” he said. “When we go outside our comfort area, we realize that there are people who need things that we have abundant here.”

“I feel like this is just answering his calling … it’s truly a selfless act,” Cindy Miner, his friend and co-worker at Kennedy’s, said.

Moreno has seen the need around the world through his previous mission trips, but he’s also seen the humble happiness and giving hearts of people. When he visits a town, the people, who are lacking so much, open their homes to him. He said he spreads himself thin to the residents who demand a chance to show their gratitude for the clothing and medicine he brings.

They make a meal of their best food — even if that may be an iguana in the Costa Rican jungle; a preacher will offer his bed and sleep on the floor; and there are hugs and smiles and excitement from children as he pulls out soccer balls for them to play with.

It can be difficult, though. While they are gracious, he knows it will never be enough.

“You know they need more than what you’ve given them,” he said. “You have to be strong.”

“You really develop a sense of appreciation for what you have and who you have around you,” his daughter, Melissa Moreno, said.

Defying danger

But still, those moments are when it’s all worth it. Where Moreno travels is not always safe. Political turmoil can erupt at any moment; he’s spent time walking along streets guarded by rifle-toting military men, ridden in buses that were the scenes of kidnappings and had bombs explode so near that the ground rumbled beneath him. Moreno said he must do it alone, because no one will take the risks and go to the lengths he does to help the people.

“He’s a true person,” said Luis Soriano, a fellow barber at Kennedy’s.

While not many would go to the lengths he does, Moreno hopes that his trips and his story will inspire others to do something. Chuck Oliver, a friend and client at Kennedy’s, said Moreno’s mission has made him take a look at what he can do to step up his own level of giving back.

“He pushes me to be better,” Oliver said.

When he gets back, Moreno said there’s always a period of adjustment. He can’t forget the families he’s helped. Each story he’s heard stays in his mind and in his heart, which just pushes him to continue.

“I don’t want to change the world,” Moreno said. “I just want to make it better.”