The Lewis County Chaplaincy Services commissioned 11 new chaplains during a dinner and ceremony Monday evening at Woodland Estates Retirement Center in Chehalis. The new chaplains are front row, left to right as follows: Theresia “Brook” Yri, Connie Densmore, John Anders, Victoria Reskine, Kim Thomspon, Jane Anderson and Mike Griffee. In the back row from left to right are Edgar Densmore, Thomas Walker, Matthew March and Louis Hopkins.
When most people think of first responders, it’s firefighters, paramedics and law enforcement officers who come to mind.
Chaplains, though, are most certainly counted among them, traveling to scenes with their fellow public servants to provide messages of comfort, faith and hope during times of emergency or need.
The Lewis County Chaplaincy Service, formed in 1989, has taken on a task of providing the moral and spiritual support to members of the public as well as its fellow responders. On Monday, the group added 11 new chaplains, the largest addition the group has had in its 26-year history.
“I think five is the most we had ever had before,” Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Kevin Curfman, the chaplaincy president, said. “Everyone’s a volunteer and they go through an interview process, background checks and then we give them training.”
The chaplaincy added 11 new volunteer servants at a dinner and ceremony on Monday at Woodland Estates Retirement Center in Chehalis. The new chaplains are Theresia “Brooke” Yri, Connie Densmore, John Anders, Victoria Reskine, Kim Thompson, Jane Anderson, Mike Griffee, Edgar Densmore, Thomas Walker, Matthew March and Louis Hopkins.
The program now has more than 25 chaplains in total, including 19 volunteers who rotate an on-call basis from throughout the county. Many are already ministers or pastors in local churches across the region, while others see the chaplaincy as their opportunity to minister to the community at large.
Chaplains were toned out to 103 incidents across Lewis County in 2014, according to Curfman. That figure doesn’t include a responder dialing up a chaplain’s phone and requesting their presence personally, making the number likely much higher.
“We get a lot of tough calls that we go to,” Curfman said. “We can go to anything traumatic, especially for a family. We also do death notifications for the coroner’s office.”
Aside from providing comfort to people in emergencies and times of unforeseen need, the Lewis County Chaplaincy Service also hosts chapel services at the Lewis County Jail. Bill Malotte and his wife, Sherie, lead four other chaplains in that ministry, designed to bring a message of hope from the Bible for people who are incarcerated.
“There’s really a two-pronged approach to our response, and a major one is the jail ministry,” Curfman said. “Two years ago we started doing that, and it’s done well.”
Chaplains are also counted on as a support system for paramedics, firefighters and police officers who are at the forefront of traumatic situations often involving death, severe injury or another type of loss, whether it involves property or pets that are close to people’s hearts. The group helps run the county’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team, attending and participating in debriefings with their fellow responders.
The Lewis County Chaplaincy Service may fly under the radar, so to speak, but it doesn’t diminish their mission — one that is seen as critical for emergency responders throughout the area.
“We haven’t really publicized a lot of what we do,” Curfman said. “But sometimes you think you haven’t done much, and then when you hear from the people you helped, it makes it so worth it.”
