WASHINGTON DC, Apr 19 — Lexipol, the public safety risk management organization, points out that “first responders are facing severe staffing shortages, leading to recruitment and retention challenges that directly impact their ability to serve communities effectively.” It’s a problem that has become top-of-mind for Mike Gallagher, host of the Mike Gallagher Show with its radio audience of some 7 million listeners, and the show’s contributor-at-large Joey Hudson. They have dedicated themselves to the needs of first responders and have created the Gallagher’s Heroes foundation initiated in honor of Mike’s late wife, Denise. Mike and Joey were guests recently on the Better For America podcast hosted by Rebecca Weber, CEO of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
As Joey explained it, “we started Gallagher’s Heroes in 2004, 2005 by doing various projects in honor of Mike’s late wife, Denise Gallagher, she was the inspiration for Gallagher’s Heroes and kept Mike and me in line and kept us focused on what we were doing. We started out providing financial assistance to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty. But as we built relationships within the law enforcement community we realized it was more than about financial needs, but it was also about their spiritual needs when they lose one of their colleagues in the line of duty and the day to day stress these officers face.”
Joey explained that Mike came up with notion to create a First Responder Bible. “Mike was invited to speak to the National Bible Association some years ago. They had a military Bible. Mike and I looked at one another and thought why can’t we do a First Responder Bible? And that’s how we got started in partnership with the National Bible Association.”
Mike explained that he and his team get requests for First Responders Bibles from police departments and sheriff’s offices and EMTs and paramedics and fire stations all the time. “We have sent out thousands and thousands of these Bibles, thanks to the support of our generous audience. You think about what a paramedic sees in a car accident, or a police officer comes across, in an awful, maybe a multi fatality crime scene, and then they’re expected to punch out, then clock back in the next morning and go back to work again like it didn’t happen. They need faith. They need spirituality. They need the tools to equip them for the challenges of their jobs.”
They need community support because, according to Joey, “lawlessness seems to be growing daily and it’s a big concern. People just don’t seem to respect life and respect their neighbors and their community members. So yes, it is a big concern. Is it something that that is insurmountable, something that we cannot overcome? I don’t think so. I think we can if we can get back to the basics. We minister to the first responder community, but we need to be ministering to the entire community. And I think that we have to put God back into the equation in our communities. And we need to pray that our country can turn around. As Mike said, elections have consequences. We can make some changes by electing the right people at all levels not only at the federal level, but at the local level as well. Our school board elections, our county council elections, our city councils elections all have consequences. We have to turn America around.”
John Grimaldi served on the first non-partisan communications department in the New York State Assembly and is a founding member of the Board of Directors of Priva Technologies, Inc. He has served for more than thirty years as a Trustee of Daytop Village Foundation, which oversees a worldwide drug rehabilitation network.
