Somewhere in between her duties as a Fairfax County police officer and
raising a 15-month-old daughter, Michelle Humphries manages to touch the
lives of hundreds of combat veterans every month through her nonprofit
ministry.
A 16-year veteran of the county police department, Humphries, 39,
started Arms Outstretched Ministry in 2006 after participating in
several overseas mission trips.
"I realized that there was so much need right here at home that needed
to be addressed in the same way," she said. The ministry is a registered
501(c)3 nonprofit corporation with nine board members.
Partnering with Gary Bailey, a fellow county police officer who is the
founding pastor of Foundation Christian Fellowship Church in Stafford,
Humphries' independent ministry heads up nine outreach programs that
supply aid to active and wounded soldiers, as well as local foster
children, the homeless, inmates and the elderly.
"Michelle has an incredible gift. She is passionate and is an incredible
multitasker," said Bailey, 44, a 19-year veteran of the police
department and an ordained minister who began his church in 2005.
Today, the church and its 50 or so members help to support Humphries in
her ministries.
"Even though we worked for the same police department for more than a
decade, we didn't know each other," Bailey said. "One day I was looking
for a credible ministry with which to align my church when I ran across
Michelle's Adopt-a-Soldier program through the Fairfax County police
intranet."
Humphries said she got the idea for the program from her twin brother,
Michael Nero, who is in the Air Force and serving in Iraq.
"I realized through him that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan could
really benefit from communicating with people at home, letting them know
that someone cared," she said.
Humphries convinced a few fellow police officers who were interested in
her efforts to reach out to soldiers, and the endeavor evolved into the
Adopt-a-Soldier program.
"Once word got out in the department that we were doing this, I began
getting dozens of e-mails from other co-workers asking if they could
help," she said. "That's when I realized that it needed to become an
organized thing. I met Gary right about that time."
The program has "adopted" more than 100 soldiers. Through the program, a
police officer regularly sends a soldier care packages, cards and
letters.
Page 2 of 2
< try {
document.write('Back')
} catch(e) {}BackBack
Fairfax police officer's ministry
reaches out to veterans
Michelle
Humphries hugs Paul Rivard, a Marine injured in Afghanistan. Her
ministry takes care packages to patients at the National Naval Medical
Center in Bethesda. (Shamus Ian Fatzinger/fairfax
County Times)
|
try {
} catch(e) {}
try {
} catch(e) {}
try {
} catch(e) {}
|
Officer Jim Sparks, a National Guard Reservist who has done five tours
of duty in Iraq, knows what it means to be on the receiving end of the
program. During his last tour, in 2008, a ministry volunteer "adopted"
him.
"It's like a little piece of home," he said. "In a place where
conditions are way south of being ideal, it lets you know that someone
cares."
After returning home, Sparks began volunteering in another of the
ministry's programs, the Wounded Soldier Outreach program, which caters
to wounded soldiers and their families at the National Naval Medical
Center in Bethesda.
"We go in there once a month with barbecue donated from Dixie Bones BBQ
in Occoquan and care packages and let them know they are not forgotten,"
Humphries said. "I'll never forget the time a small stuffed bear made
its way into a box of care packages. At the time, I didn't know why I
was bringing this little bear with us, but I felt the need to do so.
"During our visit, one of the wounded soldiers told us it was his
daughter's birthday and that he was unable to buy a gift for his
daughter due to being hospitalized. He was able to give it to her,
making a huge impact on both of them."
For Sparks, a combat-wounded veteran who lost a significant part of his
hearing in Iraq when the Humvee he was traveling in hit a roadside bomb,
the program is a two-way street. "These guys are sometimes more open to
someone who's been there," he said. "I'm honored to be able to help our
nation's heroes, and I personally get a lot out of doing it."
For information about the ministry, go to http://www.armsoutstretchedministry.com.
A welcoming home for our Troops.
