Firefighters, Rescue Workers - and Chaplains - Working Hard to Help People in California Impacted by Wildfires

    SAN DIEGO, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team
 of crisis-trained chaplains has been actively working in California for
 over a week, talking and praying with more than 700 homeowners and
 displaced victims of the tragic wildfires that have torched thousands of
 homes and acres of land. More than 100 chaplains are now on the ground in
 Southern California, continuing the deployment that is expected to run four
 to six weeks.
     "Often victims in tragedies like this make it through the initial days
 of national media attention and living in shelters," said Jack Munday,
 director of the Rapid Response Team, "but when it begins to quiet down and
 they have to face their future, the pain and despair hits."
     "That's why we're here, and we're not going anywhere for several more
 weeks. Our ministry is to bring hope to the hopeless, and peace to those in
 despair," said Munday.
     Along with interactions on streets and in public places, the Rapid
 Response Team continues to minister alongside Samaritan's Purse, the
 disaster relief organization also run by Franklin Graham. As Samaritan's
 Purse volunteers help to overcome the physical needs of homeowners, the
 Billy Graham Rapid Response Team seeks to meet the emotional and spiritual
 needs of the homeowners.
     Those who desire to talk or pray with Rapid Response Team chaplains are
 strongly urged to contact the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at
 877-2GRAHAM (877-247-2426) to coordinate a telephone or in-person meeting.
     The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was conceived in the days
 following September 11, 2001. Since that time, the Rapid Response Team has
 developed into a network of 2,500 chaplains and ministry volunteers across
 the United States ready to respond anywhere in the country when man-made or
 natural disasters strike.
     Dating back to its inception, the Rapid Response Team has deployed 18
 times, with nine of those deployments taking place thus far in 2007. Most
 notably, the Rapid Response Team has deployed to Blacksburg, Va. following
 the shooting on the campus of Virginia Tech, Minneapolis following the
 collapse of the I-35 bridge, and Crandon, Wis. following the shootings of
 several young people there last month.
     For more information on the Rapid Response Team, visit
 www.billygraham.org/rapidresponse.
 
 

SOURCE Billy Graham Evangelistic Association