Friends and Neighbors: Roger Gillming

Roger Gillming is a nonconformist when it comes to his role as retired after spending a total of forty years in homiletics, the study of composing and delivering a sermon, and helping with the American Red Cross.

Once serving as the pastor for both Methodist churches, here and in Bushnell for more than a decade, Gillming thought he would like to have more free time with his wife, Schatzie, and their two grandsons, Aaron and Kip, who live in close proximity to the couple.

Real retirement didn't last long, according to Gillming, who shared that he was approached be a pastor by a small church in Peetz, Colo.

"I hadn't really thought about going back to preaching, but the opportunity presented itself. My wife and I both serve at the church, and have been there now for two and a half years," he said.

The church has a congregation of only around twenty-four each week, but the pair have enjoyed being an active part of that community.

Gillming also soon discovered that he missed assisting others during times of crisis. He shared that he taught a class for the Red Cross more than twenty years ago, and even took part in helping others through the recovery process in San Francisco's infamous 1989 earthquake.

"I loved that I could help so much after the earthquake," he said. "I enjoyed the fact that I could make a difference, and would even go in and just visit with people – be there for them."

Gillming added that he has also been active in the past with different disasters that have taken place in our state and worked within the Methodist organization to help people with the recovery process, most recently the flood of the Platte River in September of 2013.

Gillming helped both the Red Cross as well as the Salvation Army and other volunteers with the cleanup that comes after a flood, replacing items that flood victims needed and in some cases finding replacement homes or shelters when the damage was too severe.

Gillming became involved with the Red Cross two decades ago when he taught classes for the organization, and has been involved in some aspect with them since.

Gillming has added to his service recently, at the request of Kimball's Sheriff, Harry Gillway.

"I was approached by Sheriff Gillway to be involved with the Sheriff's Department in CAP (Kimball's Civil Air Patrol) as the Chaplin," Gillway said. "I am also the Chaplin for the State of Nebraska Civil Air Patrol."

Civil Air Patrol was born one week prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Thousands of volunteers answered the call to serve our nation, by helping with wartime missions.

Assigned to the War Department under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Corps, the contributions of Civil Air Patrol, including logging more than 500,000 flying hours, sinking two enemy submarines, and saving hundreds of crash victims during World War II, were well documented.

In 1946, President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 making Civil Air Patrol a benevolent, nonprofit organization. In 1948, the US Congress passed Public Law 557 permanently establishing Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force. Three primary mission areas were set forth at that time: aerospace education, cadet programs, and emergency services.

Gillming said he really enjoys working with Gillway and Deputy Sheriff Brandon Loy but he would really like to get a larger group of young people in the Kimball CAP, stating many previous members have graduated high school and moved away.

He recently returned from Salina, Kansas, where he received training on emergency management. He will now work with Sheriff Gillway and the emergency management team.

"My part in the Emergency Management team is manager," explained Gillming.

Part of emergency management is setting up emergency shelter in times of crises. According to Kimball High School Superintendent, Marshall Lewis, the high school is presently an emergency shelter for this area's population.

"We are notified by city, police, etc. and we open the building for basic shelter purposes," shared Lewis, "This has not been done to my knowledge for several years."

Lewis explained that an emergency that would warrant using the high school as a shelter could range anything from a lengthy power outage to flooding issues or fire-related issues "or other situations where the community would be best served by the school being available."

"This is simply a "good for all" arrangement that would allow our community a level of safety that may temporarily be unavailable in other locations," Lewis added. "The school would have the reasonable expectation of suitability and the community would have the reasonable expectation of respecting the property."

"One key aspect of this arrangement is that at any given time, the school facility may be in the same or worse situation than those that may need the shelter. For example, a power outage that hits the school means it is no more suitable for shelter than each person's home," concluded Lewis on the subject.

Gillming shared that the emergency management team actually has three locations in mind for shelters in our area, but are still in the process of assessing the properties and doing the other necessary paperwork to make a final decision before they will share the information with the public. It is a time-staking process for the organization.

Gillming is looking for residents who would like to volunteer to help with the local emergency management team. He can be reached by cell phone 308-241-1791, or email at [email protected].

Gillming also invites those that would like to know more about our local C.A.P. chapter to check out their Facebook page and added that he will instruct a Shelter Fundamentals class sponsored by the American Red Cross on May 13, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Kimball. Anyone interested is encouraged to contact Gillming.