MERIDIAN, Miss. (ABP) – Disaster relief and recovery units carry with them as much heart as they do equipment. A new corps of chaplains is adding another component –ears.
Veteran relief workers know that disaster victims are often desperate for someone to talk to. They need to voice their emotions, vent their frustrations, or raise questions about why tragedy has come their way.
Workers trained to feed hungry people and reclaim ruined homes often find that the most immediate need is to offer the gift of time and attention to disaster victims. Volunteers are trained to recognize the importance of listening, even when it slows down other aspects of the relief and recovery efforts.
As they listen, workers frequently recognize they are not equipped to deal with the emotional needs or theological questions that victims bring to them.
Enter the chaplains.
Gaylon Moss, disaster-relief coordinator for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, recognized the need for including trained chaplains in the mix of volunteers. He worked with Larry Jones, who leads the convention's military and chaplaincy ministries, to develop the program.
Jones invited a group of interested persons to pioneer the new effort. A class of 32 men and women, many of them with pastoral or Clinical Pastoral Education experience, were invited to attend training sessions during the summer.
Five members of that class put their training to work with the first wave of North Carolina Baptist volunteers responding to Hurricane Katrina.
As hot and hungry residents lined up to wait for their meals in Meridian, Miss., Aug. 31, the first full day of serving, the chaplains waded into the crowd to offer a personal touch. They learned people's names, admired their babies, listened to their stories, and sometimes hugged their necks.
Chaplain James Hales of Topsail, N.C., found one woman in tears. Her home, where she cares for her sick and elderly father, had been without electricity and water for days. The heat and humidity had become oppressive, and she was worried about her father's health. Hales listened patiently and offered prayer and a hug to go with the hot meals provided by other workers.
Chaplain Kern Rose of Apex, N.C., said the effort of “working the lines” helped to identify people who were sick or had other special needs, enabling relief workers to offer more personal or immediate care.
Despite the best efforts of 55 volunteers and full use of the equipment from North Carolina's largest feeding unit, some people stood in the hot sun for more than two hours before receiving food. Chaplains' efforts helped to defuse frustrations by providing a compassionate ear or something as simple as part of a cardboard box to use as a sunshade.
As they talk with disaster victims, chaplains do not debate theological explanations for why God allows tragedy to happen, Jones said. Rather, they focus on helping the people look ahead and deal with what has happened in a helpful way.
Thus, practical listening and caring skills are more important than theological training for the kind of crisis care that relief chaplains are called to do, Jones said. Their function is to “help them understand how the grace of God and the gospel can meet their needs wherever they are.”
The chaplains' mission extends beyond disaster victims to include those who serve, Jones said. Volunteers who work long hours and see much suffering around them may also need an opportunity to debrief the emotional toll that comes with the work.
Jones encourages chaplains to seek training in at least one other aspect of disaster relief so they can lend a helping hand where needed.