“Shoot Clays, Save Lives” Tournament to benefit Emergency Chaplain Group

Blackwood Gun Club is hosting a special clay-shooting tournament to raise funds for Emergency Chaplain Group, a nonprofit organization that provides counseling services for First Responders. The “Shoot Clays – Save Lives Clay-Shooting Tournament” will take place on Friday, April 27 at 1400 FM 2854 in Conroe.

Hello Woodlands visited the Spring Fire Department Station 71 to talk with Assistant Chief Robert Logan of the Spring Fire Department, and Skip Staus of the Emergency Chaplain Group, and Aaron Bearden of Blackwood Gun Club.

Watch the video interview below and on the Hello Woodlands Facebook page!

The fun day of shooting sporting clays with friends and first responders will be enjoyable for all skill levels and directly benefits Emergency Chaplain Group and our first responders. Registration will start at 8 a.m., shoot begins at 10 a.m.,  lunch catered by Avendia Brazil Churrascaria Steakhouse is at noon, and the program and awards will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Learn more, purchase tickets and sponsorships, and get involved at https://bit.ly/ECGSportingClayShoot

J.C. “Skip” Straus, BCC and Chaplain Emeritus of Emergency Chaplain Group, has extended an invitation to local and regional businesses to provide sponsorships for the event.

“Emergency Chaplain Group is grateful for the communities’ ongoing support. It is with your generous donations that lives are changed forever, and we hope your generosity will extend into this event,” said Straus. “Our chaplains serve EMTs, firefighters, paramedics, law enforcement officers, and dispatchers and their families. We work closely with First Responders at the scene of an accident and afterwards to cope with the horrific events they witness, such as child fatalities, teenage suicide, or the deadly effects of drunk driving.”

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Emergency Chaplain Group, founded in 1998, is a group of specially trained chaplains who respond to the needs of the first responder community both on-scene and “behind-scene,” with an emphasis on Critical Incident Stress and Post Traumatic Stress services. The services offered by the group are without regard to religious affiliation (or lack thereof).

First-Responder Reality:

• They are exposed to highly stressful situations in the course of their routine duties.
• They have no control over the volume of calls they receive.
• They are often put in situations where they face overwhelming demands.
• They risk being seriously injured or killed in the line of duty.
• They will likely witness a peer being injured or killed in the line of duty.
• They witness horrifying events: crashes, severe injuries and multiple death scenes- often involving infant deaths and entire families.

The chaplains understand that it is difficult for First Responders to separate themselves from their feelings and “turn it off” at the end of the shift for a good reason; all of ECG’s chaplains are or have been First Responders themselves. In dealing with post-traumatic stress, their chaplains continue to assist the First Responders and their families in dealing with critical incident stress, ongoing stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues.

“In the most critical time of need, they help you. Then, we help them,” shared Skip Staus.

For more information on the Emergency Chaplain Group, sponsorship opportunities, and ways to get involved, visit www.emergencychaplain.org or call 855-4-EM-CHAP (855-436-2427).

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