OUR STORY
I have dedicated my life as a full-time volunteer for more than 20 years, serving the needs of people on what is often the most difficult day of their lives, or in the lives of the people they love.
As a First Responder Chaplain, I am one of the first on the scene of disasters. These can include fires, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, hospital visits, mass shootings, any tragic event or disaster in which there is a loss of life injury, or displacement. My duties often include death notifications to victims’ families as well as first responder line-of-duty deaths. And it’s not uncommon for this to lead to performing funerals and memorial services, especially if the family is not connected to a local church or synagogue.
Disaster Response Chaplains are volunteers who raise their own support. Everything we do is completely self-funded, including our airfare, food, gas, and lodging during each deployment. A deployment can be to a local hospital or to a foreign nation, or anything in between. The deployment can be in a single day or for several months, it’s not uncommon to not know the duration until we arrive on scene.
Serving over a dozen agencies, traveling both domestically and internationally, I am always prepared for deployment 24/7, 365 days a year. I remain unceasingly driven to render guidance, comfort, and spiritual support to those who are enduring horrific hardships.
My time is split between deployments across the nation and serving the local communities in San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Assisting the young to the elderly whose lives have been uprooted from emotional, mental, spiritual and/or financial collapse, including PTSD, my goal is to help walk with them through their trauma and navigate next steps to healing and recovery.