Introducing the Regional Disaster Wardens
by Hill Grimmett
The Office of the Bishop has been working on developing capacity in the diocese to respond well to emergencies and disasters through what it has been calling the “Year of Resilience” program. We are now appointing Regional Disaster Wardens to all five Regions of the Episcopal Church in Colorado.
“In adding Regional Disaster Wardens to our resilience effort,” explains The Reverend Canon Carl Andrews, Canon to the Ordinary, “is to develop greater capacity for responding to future disasters and to help congregations become better prepared.”
The Regional Wardens will work in the five Regions to provide assistance to congregations who are developing their own resilience and safety plans. In addition, the Wardens will be available as on-the-ground eyes and ears in the event of future large-scale disasters and help the Diocese mobilize resources and determine local needs.
Regional Disaster Wardens are in place for four of our five Regions:
Sangre de Cristo
The Reverend Mary Hendricks, Rector, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and Holy Cross Lutheran, La Junta
Southwest
The Reverend David Vickers, Rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ouray
High Plains
Mason Whitney, St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church, Cherry Hills Village
Front Range
Hill Grimmett, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Fort Collins
Northwest
The Regional Disaster Warden for the Northwest Region has not yet been appointed.
The Reverend Mary Hendricks, Regional Warden for the Sangre de Cristo Region, explained:
Maybe my interest in disaster work stems from the memory of “duck-and-cover” drills from my childhood. Or perhaps, lingering thoughts about the week I spent eating cheese sandwiches dispensed by the Red Cross following a devastating tornado. It might be the unexpected late-night drive to an unfamiliar town as mandatory evacuation orders forced me away from yet another approaching hurricane. In truth, it’s probably all these things and more that attracted me to the work of safety, preparedness, and resilience.
In the months ahead I hope to connect with each of the churches in the Sangre de Cristo region for the purpose of discovering the status of our preparation and resilience planning efforts. Identification of area resources and existing emergency-response networks will also be explored. Finally, a series of preparedness topics will be distributed monthly.
The Warden for the High Plains Region is Mason Whitney, who explained:
I have been involved with safety, preparedness, and resilience since 1968 when I entered the service as an Air Force pilot. My military career of 39 years meant being prepared for national defense and state-emergency response missions and effectively performing those missions when needed. After my military career, I served as the Director of Homeland Security for the State of Colorado for three years. In this position I was responsible for the state planning for, the prevention of, protection from, response to, and recovery from any emergency affecting the state. I hope to help every parish in the High Plains Region become more prepared and resilient by assisting in empowering their congregants with the knowledge, skills, and capabilities to successfully cope with any emergencies that could occur.
The Southwest Region Warden is The Reverend David Vickers of Ouray. He explains his approach:
I am particularly interested in prevention. My hope is to help the churches in our region learn more about the resources already present in our communities and to help them plan for future disasters.
The Warden for the Front Range Region will be Hill Grimmett, who has served for the past 20 months as the Disaster Coordinator for the Diocese, leading our efforts in long-term recovery from the 2013 floods. He observed:
Now that our grant money from Episcopal Relief & Development has been well used for flood recovery, I’m delighted to shift my work to the congregations and ministries of the Front Range Region. I hope that over the next couple of years, we can have all of our congregations up to date with a Resilience Plan which builds on their existing ministries. Developing these plans is also a great opportunity for leadership development in the congregation and for outreach to the surrounding community.
If your congregation is beginning work on a Resilience Plan, or would like assistance in developing a planning team, contact the Disaster Warden for your Region by visiting http://dioco.org/Programs%20&%20Ministries/disaster-response-and-recovery.html. Further information about the Year of Resilience can be found online at dioco.org or by contacting Hill Grimmett at HGrimmett@coloradodiocese.org.