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Posted by: Ray on 03/04/2008 01:13 PM
Updated by: Ray on 03/04/2008 01:13 PM
Expires: 01/01/2013 12:00 AM
Chaplain Deploys to NIU Campus Shooting
On February 21st our police department's chaplain was requested to respond to the Northern Illinois University campus to support the students, faculty, staff, community and volunteers who were deeply impacted by the events that unfolded on February 14th, a Valentines Day that will long be remembered by those who live and attend school in DeKalb Illinois. On that fateful day, a former student at NIU walked into Cole Hall and began shooting at those attending a lecture. When the shooting stopped, five students were dead and many others suffered physical wounds. Classes were suspended and most students went home for a week, though most foreign students remained in the immediate area for financial reasons.
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On February 24th the community and university held a memorial service in the Convocation Center and prepared to receive the returning students back into classes on Monday morning the 25th. In preparation for their return, the university hosted over 600 mental health counselors who manned classrooms and lounges where they were available for anyone who needed to talk about the incident. Ray Fairman, WPD's Chaplain, was dispatched as a member of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT), a faith-based team of seasoned chaplains who respond with the ability to restore faith and hope to many of those devastated by natural and man-made critical incidents. Many of these RRT chaplains are members of Critical Incident Stress Management Teams who respond voluntarily from all across the nation. Many of them like chaplain Fairman pay a good portion of their own expenses in order to be at the disaster scene and available for those in need.
Prior to responding to NIU, Chaplain Fairman was called on to spend 5 weeks in New Orleans in support of the New Orleans Police Department in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Chaplain Fairman joined a RRT that was forming at NIU and was made up of pastors, military professionals, law enforcement officers and counselors that numbered as few as three and as many as seventeen during the twelve days of his involvement. Chaplains were on their own after a daily briefing and exercised their individual efforts community wide. They were able to provide direct support at times to students, victims, faculty, veterans, community leaders, law enforcement and other first responders and many parents and alumni. Many of these people suffered spiritual, emotional, psychological and some even suffered physical wounds that needed treatment.
Many people were affected by the tragedy. Both those who had ties to the victims and those who had ties to the shooter. Chaplains from the Rapid Response Team had encounters with both sides and tried to provide them all with a message of hope that they could get beyond the pain of the events with God's help. While there in the DeKalb-Sycamore area Chaplain Fairman also had the opportunity to provide that message at three local church gatherings in the community surrounding the university.
More than 535 persons were prayed with, encouraged and four rededicated their lives and efforts to God during this deployment while ten other individuals joined the church for the first time.
With spring break rapidly approaching, the RRT is breaking up, with a final team of six chaplains arriving on Monday and staying on campus for up to five additional days. The university is beginning to respond to their recovery motto, "Forward, Together Forward."
Chaplain Fairman returned to Athens on Monday night the 3rd of March where he resumes his volunteer duties with WPD.
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