Prayer For Relief Workers and Volunteers

Grab the Tissues, These Truly Inspiring Graduates Will Bless you

Prayer For Relief Workers and Volunteers

Graduation season is upon us, bringing celebrations of the academic accomplishments of the students in our lives. As much as we love seeing young people earn degrees and venture out beyond their schools, we wanted to expand the definition of “graduation.”

RELATED CONTENT: The Spiritual Pep Talk We All Need: Devon Franklin’s USC Commencement Speech

We’ve spotlighted kiddos graduating from their medical treatments, inmates finding joy in seemingly joyless places, animals finding new homes and a story of academic success for a person living with Down Syndrome.

1. Children graduating from chemotherapy treatment

Completing the grueling process of chemotherapy is a powerful moment for anyone impacted by cancer, but it’s particularly inspiring when the graduate is a child. Across hospitals nationwide, a culture of “ringing the bell” has developed when patients complete their final chemo treatment.

This tradition emerged in 1996 by Irve Le Moyne, a United States Navy Rear Admiral who installed a brass bell at the cancer center where he was receiving treatment.

The bells and accompanying poem by Le Moyne began appearing in cancer wards everywhere and are now a major main-staple that children also participate in when they graduate from their treatment.

Ring this bellThree times wellIt’s toll to clearly say,My treatment’s doneThis course is run
And I am on my way!

Across , there are ample videos of children chemo grads, enough to bring a tear to any eye. Check out this video of Benjamin, a 10-year-old Chicago boy celebrating his bell ringing alongside his favorite Cubs player and fellow cancer survivor, Anthony Rizzo.

2. Student with down syndrome graduates from college

Last year, Cody Donaca-Sullivan made history as Oregon’s first person living with down syndrome to graduate from a four-year university.

Earning a Certificate of Achievement in Education from Portland’s Concordia University, Cody spent four years completing all the relevant coursework to be declared an “official college graduate.

” While Cody’s accomplishments are breathtaking, this graduation wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of his mother, Ann Donaca-Sullivan.

When Cody expressed his interest in attending college, she called every university in the state looking for a program that could help accommodate his learning needs. Concordia was willing to work hand-in-hand with the family and to develop a custom education program that helped Cody thrive, learn and thoroughly enjoy the college experience.

Is ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Actually an Attack on Christianity?

Animal shelters play a powerful role in providing temporary compassionate housing for pets and strays in need. However, they are also often crowded, noisy and the type of place that ideally all animals can depart quickly from into loving homes.

In order to do so, they often need behavioral support so that they can put their best paw forward to potential adopters.

The Tails of Redemption program in Chicago’s Cook County is designed to help ill-mannered dogs gain the training needed to thrive in a loving home.

Local animal shelters partner with the Cook County Jail, allowing Cook County inmates the opportunity to give the dogs loving personal attention and also proving therapeutic for the inmates as well.

After a dog lives in the jail for approximately two months, bonding with humans and gaining manners along the way, they graduate and go on to find their “furever” homes; some have even found their homes with jail personnel who bonded with them while they are in the program!

4. Baby graduates NICU

In this heartwarming video, we meet the Potter family, including tiny infant Cullen Potter. Born premature at 22-weeks, with only a 2% chance of survival, the NICU at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital proved critical in saving Cullen’s life.

As amazing as the NICU can be, everyone just wants to see healthy, thriving babies leave there as fast as possible. Eventually, Cullen’s day to leave arrived.

Where do you find a tiny cap and gown fit for a newborn baby?! From Build-A-Bear Workshop, of course! Watch to see the cutest graduation ceremony you’ll ever witness as Cullen was finally cleared to go home five months later.

5. Felons earning their college degrees

Earning a college diploma is a powerful step toward career success for many. For inmates within the prison system who face major challenges in trying to find work after their release, a college degree can be game-changing. Although many prisons offer GED programs, there are few options for inmates to pursue a four-year college degree.

RELATED CONTENT: Rival Gang Members Baptized Just Months After Church Plant in Texas Prison

Even for inmates serving a life-without-parole sentence, there’s great power in providing educational and intellectual opportunities.

That’s why we are so in love with California State University Los Angeles’ Prison Graduation Initiative.

Serving as the only college in California to offer bachelor degree opportunities to the prison population, the program offers hope to a vulnerable population in desperate need of it.

Источник: //www.lightworkers.com/inspiring-graduates/

Prayers in a Time of National Tragedy

Prayer For Relief Workers and Volunteers

We have gathered as a community,not because we wanted to, but because we felt compelled to;because we couldn't not be here––for one another,for the families of the victims of terrorism,

and for the laborers who at this very moment seek survivors.

We gather as citizens who love our Godand who love the good land God has given us;who cherish the freedoms we enjoy,and who lament our innocence lost.With anger we come, and with sorrow;

with confusion and concern.

Our spirits boil with emotion;our minds are ajumble with nagging implications.We cometo pray,to listen,to speak to God and to one another;to lament our losses

and lift up our wounded hearts for healing.

Prayer for Relief Workers

Hear our prayers, O God, for those whose hands are scarred with rubble,lungs strafed with dust and ash, eyes stinging from debris,and minds reeling from having to look at scenes they had never in all their lives wanted to see.Grant them clear heads and strong backs;guard their spirits when they are confronted with death.

May they greet the living with hands of mercy and compassion.

Be present, Lord, to those who supply relief workers with food and clothing;sustain them with continued resolve and support them with our generosity.

We pray, O God, give listening and able ears to those who counsel the bravest and the finest,and as they shepherd the spirits of the EMTs and hospital staff members and doctors.

Grant endurance and continued hope, O God, to all whose hands and hearts will forever bear the marks of the days ahead.Against the backdrop of humanity at its worst, inspire them to be at their best,

and quicken our resolve to respond when we are called on to help.

Prayer for the Nation

Hear our prayer, O Lord our God, for our nation.In many ways we have come to a full stop; airplanes streak no streams across the sky;the din of the marketplace is stilled; the joy of lauding a deft double-play has beentaken from us.Be present with us as one nation under you, O Lord.

Give constant and wise counsel to our President and his advisors.Be present with our armed forces throughout the world,who take their posts day and night on our behalf on high alert.Strengthen the resolve of those leaderswho seek true justice rather than blind retaliation.

Keep us all mindful of how small this earth is,how interrelated our lives have become,and how fragile security and peace is.Hold us together as one people, Lord;guard us from lashing out in prejudice against our neighborswho, having come from many lands, now pledge their allegiance to but one flag.

Lord our God, have mercy upon us,

and grant us your peace.

Sharing in Prayer

At this time and in this safe place I invite all who feel led to say a few words, in whatever fashion they come to you. Feel free to express whatever is layed upon you heart, knowing that all that is spoken is spoken before God and in the company of God's people. Let this be a time for us to come together and share our souls honestly before God our maker.

Prayer for Families of Victims

We lift our most heartfelt prayers, O God,for those who on this night are still waiting for word of their loved ones,

and for those who have already heard the worst.

We pray for those who are healing from injuries to body or mind.We pray for those still unaccounted for.We pray for moms and dads who went to work unsuspecting,and for their children who expected them to come home and take them to practice.We pray for all families whose histories have been forever altered

as the effects of the attack pass on from generation to generation.

We pray for those who have never been in battlebut who have witnessed war's ravages;even the survivors, Lord, have become victims.And although it is but by your grace that we come here to pray,

we, too, mourn our own innocence lost, O Lord.

You do not delight in wickedness, O God;so enfold us with your compassion, uphold us with your love,and keep us, and all who suffer, in your sight.Grace us, O God; heal and embrace us,and lead us from this darkness into your everlasting light.

Amen.

Benediction

A benediction is a good word. God's good word reminds us that it is better to light a candle than merely to curse darkness; that God's sure light shines in the darkness and that the darkness can never overcome it.

Thus, after I bid you God's peace, I invite you to light a candle and take it with you as a pledge and a memorial that God's will will be done on earth as in heaven, and that rejoicing awaits those who take refuge in our God.

Dearly beloved friends, may God's everlasting peace be with you now, and give us all the spirit to face whatever we have to face, now and into tomorrow's tomorrows.
Amen.

The above prayers are from the Rev. Paul Janssen, pastor of Pascack Reformed Church, and were used in a community service on Wednesday, September 12, 2001.

Источник: //www.rca.org/resources/prayers-time-national-tragedy

News

Prayer For Relief Workers and Volunteers

Retired Police Officer and Soldier Brian Krogmann Standing Guard at Houston Relief Center

Disaster Relief Center Protection Detail in Texas

Oath Keepers and other patriots,

We need “quiet professionals” who can provide protection for relief workers and truckers who are bringing in critical disaster relief supplies to Houston, Texas.

  Oath Keepers has been asked to provide protection for a massive warehouse in Houston that is now being used as a major disaster relief hub and distribution center, with trucks running day and night to bring in relief and recovery supplies, which are then distributed out to those in need.

   The owner of the warehouse, Robert Erwin, of R2 Corporation, donated the use of his building to relief efforts, and then requested our help to keep the building and everyone in it safe.

The phone numbers to call are 346-237-7527 and 346-237-7531

Among the people we are protecting are dock workers, drivers, and volunteers from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, led by Robert Mele, Principle Officer of Teamsters Local 988.  The Teamsters have stepped up big time to help the people of Houston, with loaded trucks coming in from all over the nation.  We are also protecting other volunteer and non-profit relief workers.

Unfortunately the warehouse is in an industrial complex that is surrounded by a residential area with a large gang presence, which is why we need skilled, qualified men and women to keep people safe here.

The warehouse is located at:

101 Esplanade Blvd.

Suite 400

Houston, TX 77060

Our experienced police officers are acting as liaisons with Houston PD, Metro PD, Harris County Sheriffs Office, and DHS.  Our mission is to protect the relief workers, truckers, and the supply line going out to those in need.

   Our posture is as low-key as we can make it consistent with the mission and being capable of protecting ourselves and others.  We are already here, boots on the ground, with teams out securing the property, but we need help.

Oath Keepers Veteran Police Officers Greg McWhirter and Brian Krogmann with Vera Bumbers, Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority Assistant Chief of Police and Janice Weaver, Director of Community Relations, Mayor’s Office

This is an armed detail, so if you have a personal firearm, please bring it.  If you are interested in helping, call for details about what other gear to bring (but plan on being self sufficient with sleeping gear, cot or air mattress, wet weather gear, flashlights, etc – basically be able to live your ruck).  We will provide food and water.  Call or email for details.

TO VOLUNTEER CALL:

 346-237-7527

Or email:   la@oathkeepers.org

Any questions, please call or email.

If you can’t make it here to help in person, please make a donation to support those who can make it here to help.


Protective Escorts for Medical Teams and Relief

In addition, we have been running escort missions for field medical teams from Global Outreach Doctors, Dr. Alison Thompson of Third Wave Volunteers, and Mobile Medics International (all outstanding and heroic lifesavers), relief supply convoys, and for truckers on the road when requested.

[ot-video type=”” url=”//www..com/watch?v=jyfPlfeR1YA”]

We will continue to run those missions if we have sufficient manpower, but by necessity, our protection of the relief center must take priority for now (at least for the next few weeks).

We will rotate people in and out, so if you can only come down for a couple of days, that is fine.   We need all the help we can get.

SKILLSETS NEEDED:

We are looking for men with relevant military, police, or security training, such as:

Current serving or retired law enforcement.    We have a crucial need for police officers to act as liaisons to local and federal LEO’s and also because of their many other skillsets which translate directly to nearly everything we are doing here.

Current serving or veteran military, especially infantry or other combat arms, military police, or others with Personal Security Detail, force protection or site security training and experience.

Experienced armed security professionals.    Must be trained, safe, and competent with your weapon and equipment.  And must have a solid understanding of the lawful use of force and the force continuum.

Above all, we want only cool, calm, steady men who will keep a cool head under pressure, and will interact well with many volunteers coming and going – quiet professionals.   You WILL be vetted.  If you have a CHL, please bring it.

  Please bring a copy of any training certs you have, or any other pertinent proof of training or status, if at all possible.  Please make it easy for us to vett you and get you assigned to a team.   If you are an Oath Keepers member, please bring your membership card if you have it.

   You DO NOT have to be a member to volunteer.  We will take all qualified personnel.  Please see the contact info below.

We can also still use:

Emergency medical personnel:   EMTs, military medics and corpsmen, civilian paramedics, nurses, etc.   However, please understand that our primary mission here at the warehouse is a fixed position defense/protection operation.

   If we have enough people, we may be able to send some out on relief missions to affected areas, but please don’t count on that.

   You would be needed to support and care for our people, and be prepared to deal with trauma just in case, and also to do some medical checks and first aid on disaster victims if you go out on a mission to affected areas (as our medics .  Please bring whatever gear you have that you would need to work that mission.

Communications experts (HAM General class or above preferred, but a technical class HAM is also useful).    Please bring extra radios if you have them.

TO VOLUNTEER CALL:

 346-237-7527

Or email:   la@oathkeepers.org

Any questions, please call or email.

We have been blessed with the honor of protecting and assisting some outstanding first-responders, including directly assisting local volunteer fire-fighters, search and rescue, police officers, sheriff deputies, and also National Guard units from multiple states including Texas and Louisiana (we actually helped protect unarmed National Guard and fire-fighters), and protecting the incredible volunteer medical teams mentioned above, as well as helping the devastated, tired, and wet Texans who live here.  It has been a privilege and an honor to do so, and we intend on being on call and ready to respond whenever they need us, as well as protecting this new relief supply center in Houston.  This is square on with our Community Preparedness Team (CPT) concept –  Americans coming together, lending a hand, is what it is all about.   We would hate to turn them down because we didn’t have enough men.

Robert Erwin, Vice President of R2 Corporation, is a great American patriot in the truest sense of that word – a man who loves his country and loves all of his fellow Americans regardless of their politics, and he deserves all our thanks and respect for providing this massive warehouse for relief operations.   And the many volunteers here also deserve our thanks, and they deserve our protection.  Please step up and help keep them all safe.   We are stretched thin, so please come out if you can.  Many hands make light work.

And again, if you can’t make it in person, please consider making a donation to help support those who can.

For the Republic,

Stewart Rhodes

Founder of Oath Keepers

Источник: //oathkeepers.org/2017/09/call-action-volunteers-needed-protect-houston-disaster-relief-center-relief-workers/

10 things you need before volunteering for disaster relief in Nepal

Prayer For Relief Workers and Volunteers
View image | gettyimages.com

Even the most basic training is crucial. If for no one else, yourself— going into areas where there are infinite ways of becoming injured, it’s important to at minimum, be capable of treating yourself and then when needed, others. Start with the basics and work your way up.

Check out: Your local Red Cross, Fire Department, or nearest medical center/clinic. If you are tight on funds, have limited access to training in English and are looking to renew an expired basic certification, here are two great online sites: FirstAidWeb and FirstAidForFree.

2. You need a working knowledge of food and water storage/safety and sanitation procedures

View image | gettyimages.

com

What’s happening in Nepal is very serious for more reasons than demolished buildings. The entire infrastructure of the country is disrupted and will remain so for the foreseeable future. What does that look ? Water supplies are either stopped up or contaminated. Sewage systems are destroyed.

The electric grid is severely compromised. Roadways are destroyed rendering many places inaccessible except on foot. Government services are incapacitated. And those are only the big ticket “top of list” items. It’s necessary to know how to purify water, properly store and prepare food with little to no electricity.

Dispose of human waste so as to prevent spread of disease and further contamination. Responders and their teams must go into these situations fully equipped to attend to all of their own needs.

Not knowing how to do this, creates an even greater crisis— the aid workers can’t effectively help anyone if they are ill from food and water contaminates or are adding to the unsanitary environs.

Check out: CDC, DisasterReady, SurvivalStill, Toiletology 101

3. You need excellent coping and stress-management skills

View image | gettyimages.

com

Disaster situations are by default high stress, emotionally charged environments. Filled to the brim with chaos and uncertainty.

Exasperated by masses of fearful, bewildered and traumatized people- all of whom need immediate assistance- it’s easy to see how one’s “stressometer” can max out within hours of arrival.

Information doesn’t flow smoothly, crucial details get lost in translation and things rarely (if ever) unfold according to plan. It’s vital to have good personal knowledge of and techiniques for functioning effectively in a pressure cooker working environment.

Responders who must know what’s going on 24/7, get easily offended when not kept in the loop 100% of the time or who loose it after things change 30 seconds after a plan was fixed have a difficult time coping on the field.

Check out: A Guide to Managing Stress in Crisis Response Professions, CDC, MayoClinic, CISM International

4. You need crisis and trauma-counseling skills. You also need to be a great listener

View image | gettyimages.

com

A big part of the job when working with disaster victims is crisis and trauma counseling. Helping people deal with various stages of grief and loss is something every responder needs to have a working knowledge of.

Oftentimes, it’s 2 parts listening to 1 part validating and demonstrating compassion. You get to go home at the end of your deployment. These people? They have to learn to adjust to an abrupt and unanticipated new normal.

Know what the stages of grief are, be patient and give people the time and space they need to share their stories- this is a vital step in their recovery process.

Check out: Grief.com, HelpGuide, CISM International

5. You need to know alternative means of communication

View image | gettyimages.

com

Cell phones, land lines and the internet aren’t always available. To remedy that, having a HAM (Handheld Amateur Radio) radio operators license is valuable. While not every responder has this, it’s an incredibly useful skill to have when none of the phone networks are available. Especially in the first 1-6 weeks post disaster.

Check out: HamRadioSchool, ARRL (National Assn. for Amateur Radio) HowTo Wired

6. You need to speak more than one language

View image | gettyimages.

com

In the aid community, English, French and more recently Arabic are the most coveted. Others of course, are always needed so, the more languages one can speak, the better. In your home country, being able to serve as an interpreter for responders from other countries is also an important skill.

Check out: Pimsluer, Duolingo, OpenCulture

7. You need technical skills. Media skills are especially valuable

View image | gettyimages.

com

Having good grasp of technology in the world today is a given — in the aid world, things are no different. In addition to basic computer skills, knowing how to use a camera or take video to help document the work organizations and teams are doing is highly valued.

The photos and videos are critical in showing supporters what’s actually happening on the field. Visual documentation is one of the key ways organizations demonstrate funds are being well spent. Keep in mind, there’s a code of ethics- tell the story but don’t objectify or re-victimize the people you are there to help.

Protect their dignity, it’s probably one of the few things they have left.

Check out: MatadorU, DARTCenter

8. You need basic survival skills and low expectations

View image | gettyimages.

com

In areas where major destruction occurs, baths, showers, lodging with reliable internet, nice cold drinks and clean plates are extreme luxuries. You’ll need to be okay with the fact that bathing probably won’t happen till you are headed towards the airport.

Toilet facilities will be a mess (if there even are any) and you’ll most ly be sleeping in a tent on hard, rocky ground with a regular parade of insects, chickens and dirt the entire time you’re on deployment. In short, it’s rough.

It’s the most uncomfortable, dirty, undone kind of environment possible and you have to fall in love with it.

Check out: FEMA Community Emergency Response Teams, LoftyWiseman, SAS survival guides and mobile apps

9. You need training and you need to join an organization

View image | gettyimages.

com

Most organizations have their own training programs for their volunteers. Some are over a weekend, others require a week or more of dawn till dusk, extensive training on a variety of subjects. The very worst thing a person can do after a disaster is hop on an airplane as an untrained lone ranger.

Don’t allow yourself to consider that as an option. Find an organization operating locally that matches your vision and values.

Get involved with them, learn their protocol and operational systems, get the training and equipping you need to become a functional, contributing member of their team and THEN go where the crisis is under their direction.

Check out: Ready.gov, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, DisasterReady.org

10. You need to view this as an investment

View image | gettyimages.

com

Crisis response and disaster relief is not for the faint of heart, nor is it well suited to the one off experience— it’s a long term commitment to acquiring knowledge and skill sets that leave a place and people group better off then when you arrived. This list is merely an orientation highlighting the most basic elements of aid work. There are infinite areas and specializations under the disaster response and humanitarian aid umbrellas.

Feature image by UK Department for International Development

Источник: //matadornetwork.com/bnt/10-things-need-volunteering-disaster-relief-nepal/

Поделиться:
Нет комментариев

    Добавить комментарий

    Ваш e-mail не будет опубликован. Все поля обязательны для заполнения.

    ×
    Рекомендуем посмотреть