The Oregon Conference community outreach department inspired Portland Adventist Academy students to join in Adventist Community Services Disaster Response (ACS-DR) for Oregon, the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Twenty PAA students signed up for specialized training and certification after Dan Patchin, a doctor and a volunteer for the ministry, shared stories and pictures of his experience volunteering after hurricanes Ike and Gustav.
Students Chelsea Bishop, Morgan Crawford, Coisha Grahm, Nayeli Herrera, Cynthia Morales, Sierra Nelson and Tae Woo Yang completed the training and testing required for certification. Patchin expects more will follow.
"Once they're certified, the students can be called upon during regional disasters," explains Patchin. "Like the ones we've seen here in the Northwest recently." The students also may be called upon for national disasters such as Ike and Gustav.
Opportunities like this are shaping the next generation of Adventists. "We're giving the students a hands-on practical approach to the ministry of Jesus," says Patchin. "And we're equipping them with training and certification so they can continue serving people as adults."
"I know that I want to do this kind of stuff the rest of my life," says Nayeli Herrera, PAA sophomore and program participant. "Helping people makes me feel so good. And I don't mean to just say that as a cliché. It's like you really don't want anything back afterward. The feeling is enough."
Nayeli Herrera (right) and friend Katie Paulumbo are painters during a mission trip to Mississippi.
