The Harlan County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain Corps was recently featured in an article in the Kentucky Law Enforcement magazine. In the article ‘Bearing the Burden,’ the International Conference of Police Chaplains found the chaplain corps was a benefit to officers and the community.

Harlan County was one of the four programs featured in the article.

According to Harlan County Sheriff Marvin Lipfird, the Harlan County Chaplain Corps Program began with him and chaplain Maj. Bill Ball. Together they had a vision for this program and a great desire to help others.

“When I first took office, I wanted an outlet for my deputies and staff, to go to and have someone to talk to,” said Lipfird. “Law enforcement is a very stressful job. It’s hard for someone to talk to their boss about personal things or things that just stress them out, life problems, so I saw a need for the chaplain program.”

Lipfird said since he had been in office he had seen a great need for the children of Harlan and surrounding counties.

“The kids are the real victims in anything that goes on in this world,” said Lipfird. “That is the real reason we have this program and volunteer our time to see that our kids are taken care of.”

The chaplain program has grown tremendously since its inception, according to Lipfird. He said representatives from churches in Harlan, Bell, Letcher and Leslie counties come every Monday and Friday to pick up items to be distributed to needy people.

“The Lord has blessed us and keeps blessing us,” Lipfird said. “It’s hard to put into words just how blessed we really are. We have helped Harlan County Schools, Harlan Independent Schools and Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, donating desks to them.”

Lipfird said they try to distribute items where they are needed the most. He said if they get something in that a church can’t use, such as medical equipment, they try to find an outlet.

“A lot of the time, we have to find where the needs are,” said Sgt. Anthony Dempsey, a member of the chaplain corps who is also the warehouse manager. “We got four tractor trailer loads of medical supplies in. Under our distribution policy we have in place, there was no way to distribute these items, so we had to get creative. We cannot distribute to a profitable hospital, so we went to Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross and indigent patients that weren’t able to afford their medical needs. We donated to the Laurels and area nursing homes.”

Dempsey said the chaplain corps wants to be good stewards and fill the needs of everyone that is suffering at this time.

“I have a great desire to help my fellow man,” said Dempsey. “This program is a perfect fit for me, I feel like I can make an impact on the community through my volunteer efforts here at the warehouse. We don’t see individual faces. We donate on a large scale, but it is still rewarding knowing you have helped your neighbor, like we are all supposed to do.”

Ball said the need in Harlan County is going to be much larger if the coal business keeps going down. He said the economy is bleak not only in Harlan County but all of Appalachia.

“The need is exceeding what we’ve got,” said Ball. “We have a waiting list now. We just don’t have enough volunteers to help us. We cannot take on anymore than what we are distributing right now, we are fully loaded.”

Ball said there has been a big decline in food and clothing donations. He said items that individuals needed such as canned and dry foods were just not coming in. Ball said the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP), based in Corbin, was their main supplier and they had advised him they were not getting these items either.

“We have gotten tremendous help from the magistrates, especially Jim Roark, and our county judge-executive Joe Grieshop,” said Ball. “Both Roark and Grieshop have come down to the warehouse and volunteered their time to help us.”

Roark said he can see where the chaplain corps is taking up the slack in distributing much needed supplies to the citizens of Harlan County.

“They are helping almost every agency in Harlan County, it’s a real benefit to our community,” said Roark. “This is a wonderful aid to low income families in Harlan and surrounding counties.”

Ball said in the month of October alone, the chaplain corps distributed to approximately 3,000 people, which did not include people within those groups. He said in the first 11 months of the program, the chaplain corps donated $12,393,821.40 worth of items to Harlan, Bell, Leslie and Letcher counties.

“We depend on volunteers,” Ball said. “We get help from drug court participants and the Cumberland Hope Center, which we really appreciate. We are trying to help everyone we can that has a genuine need.”

Lipfird said in the police line of work they come across many situations that can be a challenge for an officer.

“We see so many needs and we want to make a difference,” said Lipfird. “The children of Harlan County, those are the ones that stay in our heart.”