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Life audio. Hi from the Savish Army and you're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Hey, and welcome back to Words of Life.
We're about to jump into a series next week with a panel of people who all work in what I would consider very difficult fields. These are areas of ministry and support that are and should be a critical focus for the church. We'll be joined by a mental health therapist, people who work in anti-human trafficking, addiction recovery, homelessness, and more. One thing we will continue to discuss throughout this series is how we are caring for the caretakers. How are these individuals who were pouring themselves out to help other people also being poured into?
Yeah.
So today, we're going to hear a beautiful story from Bobby Geary. Bobby serves in disaster operations and deployment for the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services.
So during a major disaster, I'm responsible for the deployment of all of our personnel. That primarily means I need to make sure that we have the right number of people and the right number of canteens or food service trucks on the ground at any given time. If we have a deficit, then that means that the meals don't get out.
So I make sure that we look at where we can bring personnel in from.
Sometimes that's as far away as Canada or Puerto Rico or Bermuda or as close as 30 miles away from the disaster site. But the goal is to make sure that we get those folks on site and ready to go just as quickly as possible. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're going to take a quick ad break and we'll be right back. Hey, this is Chris, one of the hosts for the Salvation Army's weekly podcast, Words of Life.
We have some incredibly powerful episodes coming up in the next few weeks. First, we'll hear from the Director of Correctional Ministries, Barry Brown, as we learn how the Salvation Army is ministering to those behind prison walls. We say as a Savish Army, meet human needs in his name without discrimination, and so hope is a need. Are we meeting that need? And then on June 17th, we'll hear from Bobby Geary with the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services as she talks about the privilege of serving and the costs of caring for others.
To see and hear the people who have been impacted and are grateful for that meal that we provide. It makes what we do worth it. It just makes it worth it. Listen to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit wordsoflifepodcast.org. Personally, from a personal perspective of taking care of getting ready for a disaster.
I always want to make sure that I have my personal things taken care of at home. You know, is my family taken care of? Is there any outstanding things I need to do that I may not have time to come back to for several weeks?
So I look at that, I clear my calendar, let my family know, don't call, I'm going to be busy for a few weeks. And then from a work perspective, wow, it's beginning to think strategically. What resources do we need to put on the ground? When do they need to arrive? Do we need to do stuff pre-landfall or post-landfall?
Where do we need to bring in resources from and then start planning and plotting in order to get folks on the ground as soon as possible? Time, it just is different in a hurricane response or a major disaster response, especially when you work in a room with no windows or fresh sunlight. And so the days kind of seem to run together and they all look the same.
So I think that's one of the things I dread most about being in a command post for so long is just the days just seem to all look exactly the same. Um and there's there's a new problem every day to solve, or multiple problems. Um i in the end, the decision fatigue starts to set in um where you just really are at a place where if I have to make one more decision, even what to eat for lunch, that's just too much.
So um so yeah, so being in the command post is One of those things that takes its toll on you. I think one of the other things about the command post is working with your team members and recognizing that you spend a lot of time together. And how do you manage that when there's lots of stress levels and there's lots of difficulties? And how do you stay connected in a really good, strong place, even in the midst of all of the challenges that you're facing? It's important to stay as close to the command post as possible.
So we've started uh utilizing a hotel near near our offices in order to get a little more sleep than what you what I would get if I drove home or into the office, which is about forty, forty-five minutes away. Each morning I try to come in between 6.30 and 7 a.m. It's quiet. No one else is here yet. Most people start trickling in a little after 7.
A typical day starts with a command staff briefing around 9, 8 a.m.
so that we can just kind of go around and discuss our key objectives for the day. What is it that we want to accomplish in each of our different sections?
So that's how the morning starts. After that, it's booking airline tickets, it's recruiting personnel, it's making sure that they get the important information they need if they're coming in and when they're coming in. It's troubleshooting. Oh, I've misspelled the name on an airline ticket. I'm going to have to call the airline and get that resolved.
It's, oh, this person said that they could come and now they cannot come.
So I'm down two or three extra people that I needed. Oh, this canteen broke down along the side of the road. How am I going to get the folks that are in that canteen to safety? You know, so it's troubleshooting. It's answering the phone calls that are constantly coming in.
It's making sure that you have the personnel you need to support you.
Okay.
So, I think that disaster workers sacrifice a lot during hurricane season. We rarely get to see our families. I saw my family in a month's time for maybe at most eight hours.
So this work isn't just difficult. on us as individuals, it's difficult on our families. It's just hard. It is just so, so hard. It's even if you are present with your family at certain times, you're not present because the phone might ring again.
The email might come in, the text message.
So I think a lot of the toll is there's fatigue, certainly. There's decision fatigue, most definitely. But there's also missing out on being part of the family. My family, we had something scheduled for several weeks about going to the pumpkin patch and enjoying our fall and I had to say no. I couldn't make it work.
And so, you know, that's really difficult is missing out on the memories that your family's creating and you don't get to be a part of it. Mm. The number of emails and phone calls are it varies.
So in the in the very beginning, there are probably This is not an exaggeration, 100 phone calls. and emails a day. And so that is, it is just a non-stop door of information coming in and information going out. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back.
Hey, this is Chris, one of the hosts for the Salvation Army's weekly podcast, Words of Life. We have some incredibly powerful episodes coming up in the next few weeks. First, we'll hear from the Director of Correctional Ministries, Barry Brown, as we learn how the Salvation Army is ministering to those behind prison walls. We say as a Savish Army, meet human needs in his name without discrimination, and so hope is a need. Are we meeting that need?
And then on June 17th, we'll hear from Bobby Geary with the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services as she talks about the privilege of serving and the costs of caring for others. to see and hear the people who have Been impacted and are grateful for that meal that we provide. It makes what we do worth it. It just makes it worth it. Listen to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit wordsoflifepodcast.org.
One of the things we do here at our headquarters in the command post is support our EDS professionals who are in the field. And so that means helping them think about what needs to happen next. It's about helping them think about what resources there might be available that they've not thought about. It's just providing that support system around them to know we've got your back. We're going to help you as best as we can.
And so bring us your questions, bring us your needs, and we'll see how we can support.
So in April, we did a tabletop exercise. Jeff and I wrote the exercise material. Each of the eight divisions was given a scenario. And in that scenario, they had to make decisions about how they would respond to the particular disaster situation. In most cases, they had multiple areas within their division impacted.
So, ironically, here we are: Hurricane Helene and Milton, multiple. Locations impacted, not only in different divisions, but across our entire 15-state territory. And so it's very interesting that we developed a scenario, a tabletop exercise, where we had to determine. what what our course of action would be and then however what just a few months later we were actually playing that same scenario out in real life. The goal of a tabletop really is to think through scenarios that could really happen so that we can better prepare for and plan for those events.
It's interesting. Because for what seven weeks? We ran on adrenaline. That adrenaline is pumping through our bodies on a regular regular basis. And honestly, thank goodness for adrenaline because I'm not sure how we would accomplish all that we do without the adrenaline.
But now that things have winded down, now that things are going back into normal, I notice that my body doesn't know how to manage without the adrenaline. You know, that adrenaline gives you a rush. And so, oddly enough, it's now that I stop sleeping. Before, as soon as my head would hit the pillow, I would be asleep. And now my mind is racing.
And the only thing I can attribute it to is coming down off of that adrenaline and beginning to try to relax, which hasn't happened in several weeks. One of the things that we do When possible, is to go out and visit some of the operations. And so I think that. It's easy for us to I think being, I'll go back to the command post. Being in the command post is rather isolating and oftentimes it's hard to keep in perspective what we're doing outside of the command post.
And so every chance I get, I try to at least make one trip out to see what the operations are looking like. This year I was able to visit Asheville twice and in that time I was able to connect with our Baptist partners. See the meals they were serving or producing for us, and visit with our command staff and canteen crews and emotional and spiritual care providers just to get a sense of how things were going on the ground. One day we were able to actually travel up into the mountains and see the people that were impacted the most by Hurricane Helene. And I was grateful for the lady that pulled up beside us and said, Thank you.
Thank you for the meals that you're providing. It's so easy to think about things in terms of numbers. But to see and hear the people who have Been impacted and are grateful for that meal that we provide. It makes what we do worth it whenever you're getting 100 phone calls a day. It just makes it worth it.
To learn more about the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services, visit salarmieds.org. And to support the Salvation Army's continued efforts as we help people get back on their feet after a disaster. Visit give.org. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army.
Visit SalvationArmyUSA.org to offer your support. You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life.
These are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life. We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeaudio.com where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more.
Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time. Hi friend, are you stressed? Maybe even worried about so many needs around you that you've forgotten you are worth taking care of too?
Well, I'm Bonnie Gray, the host of Breathe, the Stress Less podcast. I want to invite you to join me as I share practical tips based on science, inspired by God's word, to help you spark joy and restore God's peace and love to your soul. Subscribe now and go to lifeaudio.com. The Historical Jesus Podcast is the sweeping saga of the life and times of Galilean Jesus of Nazareth, as well as the faith, religion, and church founded to honor and disseminate his acts and teachings. Join me, Mark Vinette, on this fascinating journey through time, exploring the many great works of Christian theology, literature, architecture, music, and art inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
