"Do you think ya'll could drive out to her?"

The role of a Disaster Chaplain on a Hope Force Deployment looks like the job of many others on any given day on the disaster site? cooking breakfast, setting up chairs, chatting with homeowners, handing cold water to volunteers on the roof, making phones calls and sharing morning coffee together.  The difference is that with each task, they always have their antennae busy searching for the one person at any given moment who needs a kind word, a listening ear or just a near presence.

Senior Chaplain Chuck Duby jumped in on Day Two in Arkansas to help scope out damaged roofs.  At one stop near Vilonia, Arkansas, he noticed some firemen gathered and ended up in conversation with Chief Suzonne.  He explained our desire to help tarp damaged roofs, handed her his card and asked that she call if she heard of further needs in the community.

Two days later, passing that same corner, he saw Chief Suzonne again.  He approached her with a smile and exclaimed, ?I just came over to tell you that I don?t need one single thing from you?.   She smiled in return, paused, pointed at him and said, ?I know you!  You?re those tarp people!?.   Her hand grabbed a stack of business cards from her vest pocket, and she quickly shuffled them and pulled out Chuck?s.  ?There you are!?.

Chief Suzonne proceded to describe a local woman who had come by for help, very distraught, scared of crowds and hesitant to talk.   Trees fell near her home, portions of her roof had flown off and she was clearly frightened.  Chief Suzonne had promised to send someone to check on her.  She turned to Chuck and said, ?Do you think you all could drive out to her place?? and then sketched a rough map on a torn slip of paper.

30 minutes later, Chuck found himself chatting with the homeowner, getting a tour of her property, listening to her own tornado story, hearing family history and discovering her roof had already been repaired.  ?Chief sent me? and she just wanted to know you were OK?.  With a wide smile, she acknowledged the kind gesture with a wave and the knowledge that she was not alone.