Our chaplains serve a minimum of three 24-hour on-call shifts each month. They are available to respond, as requested, to tragedies and traumatic events in our community. We sit with those affected by the tragedy while the first responders continue with their tasks. We help citizens get through the first few minutes or hours by offering practical help, information, and compassion. In many cases, we serve as A Ministry of Presence, being present and available for those in need. We spend time with first responders, dispatchers, correctional officers, firefighters, and other first responders, building rapport with them to gain their trust so that we can help them deal with the challenges of their careers when they feel the need. We also respond to line-of-duty injuries and deaths and provide comfort for the families of those injured or killed in service to their communities.
First responders call us to respond to many critical scenes where a person has lost their life or has been seriously injured. In those cases, we serve the community on behalf of the law enforcement agencies and fire departments we serve. We also conduct Critical Incident Stress Debriefings (CISD) for officers and firefighters involved in serious incidents in our communities.
We are a volunteer-only organization with a few exceptions. The Executive Director focuses on raising support from which they and the ministry’s expenses are paid. We receive donations from churches, individuals, peace officers, fire departments, and law enforcement associations. We are not substantially funded by any first responder agency, organization, company or individual. Sierra Chaplaincy is a 501 c (3) registered charity with the IRS and the California Tax Board.
We have been called to respond to auto fatalities, home invasion robberies, drug overdoses, shootings, drownings, hostage situations, homicides, suicides, fires, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
Their needs, in some ways, are the same as those of other people. They have families, relationships, marriage, children, financial and everyday responsibilities. Their exposure to tragic incidents can be extremely difficult throughout one's career, and the negative effects can be cumulative if not addressed properly. They experience danger continually in a high-stress occupation on a day-to-day basis, unlike those of the general population.
They are expected to handle any call for service they are given. They never know if they are walking into a dangerous situation where they might have to put their life on the line. First Responders are under pressure every time they go to work. For example, an officer responds to 3 hot calls per shift; that would be about 12 hot calls in a week. You can do the math: 48 hot calls in a month and over 500 in a year. When they go the distance for a sometimes thirty-year career, it can take an unbelievable toll on their lives and the lives of their families.