LEWISTON, Maine — The residents of Lewiston are not alone in their grief following the mass shooting that left 18 people dead. Within hours, volunteers from around the country boarded planes and loaded up their cars, all headed to Maine.
“We’re based out of Charlotte, North Carolina,” James Kilgore, with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, told NEWS CENTER Maine. “We have people from all over the country. I have people from Ohio, Connecticut, Maine, Tennessee and Maryland here.
Like Kilgore, John Hunt, with the Crisis Response Canines, drove in from out of state to provide assistance.
“We had two of our team members drive from New Jersey," Hunt said. "Two of our team members, one from Ohio, one from Florida flew.”
Outside of Schemengees Bar and Grill, NEWS CENTER Maine met up with Dan Beazley from Northville, Michigan. He is not affiliated with a larger crisis response group and came alone “to help with healing and spread light and hope.”
Beazley's goal is shared by Kilgore and Hunt. For all of them, Lewiston is not the first community they have visited after a tragedy.
“We started with Pulse,” Hunt, said of the mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla. nightclub in 2016. “We’ve been to Las Vegas. We’ve been to several shootings unfortunately in Texas, several in Florida, several in Virginia, Ohio, Michigan State (University).”
Kilgore also noted some of the tragedies he has responded to.
“Last year I was in Pennsylvania for the officer shooting and death, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, North Carolina. We go all over,” he said.
Beazley has brought his large, handmade cross to Uvalde, Buffalo, Chesapeake and, now, Lewiston.
Their crisis response experience makes them uniquely qualified to help communities that have suffered tragedy.
“These people here are like no other,” Kilgore said. “You know, they’re just simply hurting and just trying to find the best way to deal with it. We have learned over the years that the best way to do that is to share your heart, you tell your story, you tell it again and you tell me one more time.”
A story can be told in different ways, such as writing and drawing.
"Keeping it in your head doesn’t work," Kilgore said. "You go down rabbit holes.”
For those not ready to talk, the dogs with Crisis Response Canines may be comforting.
“They don’t ask those silly questions. They’re there for them,” Hunt said of the canines. “People will just sit and pet the dogs. There’s no conversation whatsoever.”
There is no timeline for how long the various volunteer groups will be in Lewiston. Counseling services through the Red Cross, Billy Graham Ministries and Crisis Response Canines are free.
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