Friday morning at 11:00 am, in front of Good Samaritan Ministries in Brownwood, a partnership was announced between the chaplaincy program, which operates through the office of Brown County Emergency Management, Good Samaritan Ministries and North Lake Community Church to assist during times of emergency or disaster.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us today to announce to the community, to Brown County and beyond, that we’ve developed a partnership through the Brown County Emergency Management Office, led by Darrell Johnston, led by Judge Paul Lilly who had the vision to put all this together, and the foundation for this, and partnership with Good Samaritan Ministries, Leesa Stephens, Executive Director, assisted by Heather Thomas and North Lake Community Church,” said Ron Keener, pastor of North Lake Community Church.
An ambulance was donated by the parent company of Lifeguard EMS to now be used as a supply vehicle for the Chaplaincy Program of Brown County.
“As volunteer chaplains we’ve been meeting the last few months to develop a plan so that we can be ready when something happens,” said Keener. “It came to our attention that we needed to supply this vehicle. We will keep this stocked in the event there is an emergency or disaster of some kind,” he said.
A wide variety of supplies have already been donated to include first aid kits, diapers, pillows, plush toys, paper towels, Gatorade and blankets among many other items which will be used to assist those affected by a disaster or emergency situation. At the conclusion of the announcement, the supplies were loaded into the chaplain recovery vehicle.
Keener credited Brown County Judge Paul Lilly for putting the wheels in motion.
“It’s a team effort,” Lilly said. “Even before I took office I promised to revitalize and improve the office of emergency management. As far as I know we are the first to create a volunteer chaplains’ program. We began looking for a vehicle shortly after I took office. Dave Fair, one of our volunteer chaplains, was able to reach out and make contact with the parent company of Lifeguard, AMR, and they found us an ambulance and donated it absolutely free of charge to Brown County. It’s a fantastic program and everything you see here is donated.”
Leesa Stephens, GSM Executive Director, said, “We are very excited to be able to work with this chaplains’ group. When they go out to an emergency situation the level of need is always great whether it’s immediate needs or long-term needs. And sometimes the main thing needed right then is to give a child a teddy bear to get them through that situation. As often is the case at Good Samaritan, resources come our way and we’re looking at items and don’t know what to do with them, but then very shortly after God shows us. We believe this partnership is one where we’ll step up and provide clothing vouchers, housewares, etc.”
Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace and volunteer chaplain Harold Hogan said, “My profession, before I’m a judge, is being a pastor in the community. I see a need all over the community and I think it’s a great collaboration and a great opportunity for more people to involved. This is a ministry, and this is a need.”
Johnston added, “I want to thank everybody. It’s been a big group effort, a team effort. This is all funded by donations by the churches and community, so it doesn’t cost the county a thing.”
At the conclusion of the event, Pastor Keener, on behalf of North Lake Community Church, donated gift cards which can be used to provide immediate aid to those in need.