By Rosie Moore

All through my life I heard the expression, “you’re never too old to learn.” And that’s so very true. I am so pleased to be able to learn something new on many occasions, something that I never heard of before or knew about. I learned this interesting piece of news from my friend at church, Mrs. Diane Elizabeth Crabb. The city of Knoxville has a Chaplain Corps which Diane belongs to. Here are some interesting facts concerning the Corps.

The KPD Chaplain Corps is a support service for KPD employees and their families as well as the community in crisis situations. It is on-call to the Department 24 hours a day and seven days a week for: spiritual support and assistance to KPD officers or personnel and their families for personal needs such as marriage, family, illness, stress or grief. (I am quoting here). And it is also for spiritual support and assistance to the community in crisis in response to death, accident, or other police calls in which a chaplain can be of assistance to the officers and citizens. Chaplains serve one on-call per month responding for 24 hours to calls from the department in which a chaplain is needed.

They must meet these requirements to serve in the chaplain corps: a minimum of five years of ministry or counseling experience.

Complete a 60-hour Chaplain Training Academy provided by KPD.

Attend monthly training meetings.

Serve one 24 hour call per month.

Complete one four hour minimum ride along with an officer per month.

My friend Diane became aware of the KPD Chaplaincy program during the parish nurse training when a speaker from KPD spoke to them and their program was also just beginning.

After retiring from Cherokee Psychiatric Health Systems as a registered nurse, she thought she would like to follow up with this volunteer work. She attends funerals, hospital visits, death notices, and other areas of KPD. They are not there to “preach” or “correct” their thinking, primarily there to listen.

To quote Diane, “it is a privilege and honor to do this work. It is most fulfilling.”

It is most fulfilling to the thousands, or, should I say millions, of volunteers who give their time to help others in need in various ways. Thank you, Diane.

Thought for the day: A good student listens, tries, learns, applies… then turns to help others find their way.   Anonymous.

Send comments to: rosemerrie@att.net. Thank you.