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CALIFORNIA HAS A NEW STATE RESOURCE! GOVERNOR GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO THE FORMATION OF A STATE-WIDE CHAPLAIN CORPS |
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POFF HOME
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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has instructed California OES Director Henry R. Renteria to work with an ad hoc committee to establish a California Chaplain Corps designed to respond to catastrophic events and disaster throughout the State of California. The ad hoc Committee is chaired by Neil McAllister Ph.D., President and Founder of Peace Officers Firefighters Fellowship (POFF) and author of the California Chaplain Corps concept. Assisting Neil is Jay Donnelly, Assistant Chief, CDF, and Mickey Stonier Ph.D., Associate Pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship, San Diego who also serves as a Fire Chaplain for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Emma Clark, Secretary of the Board of Directors for Peace Officers Firefighters Fellowship, provides administrative support. McAllister, backed by the POFF Board, and along with several professionals from both law enforcement and fire service, spent over two years working closely with State Senator Bill Morrow, 38th District, whose positive influence was solely responsible for catching the attention of Governor Schwarzenegger. Through Senator Morrow, the Governor learned of the critical need for Chaplains to be organized as a state-wide resource that could be deployed through OES in large-scale disaster incidents. As a result, the California Chaplain Corps Committee met in Sacramento on Thursday, January 12, 2006 at the Headquarters of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, with Director Renteria. Bill SB546, signed into law in September 2005 authorizes OES to promote collaboration between the private and public sectors to better prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. This legislation allows the state to enter into emergency management agreements with private sector organizations with the goal of reducing the impact of future disasters and speeding recovery efforts. In the post-assessment of larger disaster incidents, the faith issue consistently emerges as a paramount and basic need. The OES Director and Governor Schwarzenegger believe that a pre-organized and pre-certified Chaplain Corps will greatly enhance and streamline the responsibility of Incident Command for screening potential emergency responders with an OES-issued mission, order and request number. The California Chaplain Corps Committee has an enormous task ahead of them to work out a number of issues that will finally establish a network of certified and trained Chaplains to respond to state-wide events throughout California in a timely and effective manner. Your prayerful support is greatly encouraged and appreciated. Please stay tuned to our web site for further updates as they develop. |
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