MEDIA

Record Rainfall, Storm Damage Give Workplace Chaplains a Chance to Address Storms of Life

February 24, 2017  |   tagMarketplace Matters

February’s record rainfall in California and all along the West Coast caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses. Marketplace Chaplains, America’s original, largest, and leading workplace chaplaincy organization serves many of the affected companies assisting also with the personal storms in employees’ lives.

Marketplace Chaplains currently serves 770 companies in 3,000 different locations, including dozens on the West Coast, with more than 1,500 trained, caring, and confidential chaplains serving 658,000 employees and their family members.

The week-long West Coast storm brought record rainfall to southern California along with what local weather officials termed a 100-year flood in northern California with mandatory evacuations in the San Jose area.

As Marketplace chaplains scrambled to check on companies, company owners expressed their gratitude for the chaplains’ help in storms, literal and personal.

“This is without a doubt the best investment I’ve made for my employees and their family members,” said Paul Granlund, CEO of Northwest Commercial Carpet and Floor Cleaning located in Portland, Oregon. While his company did not suffer much commercial damage in the record winter storm, he said he is very grateful for the chaplains’ help during the stormy times of everyday life.

Another West Coast Marketplace company that is dependent on the weather, Abundant Harvest Organics located outside of Fresno, California, said they remain grateful for Marketplace Chaplain’s presence in their company. “We already had a health care policy, but people’s eternal health is just as important,” said company CEO Vern Peterson.

While the weather may have slowed some of his daily production of thousands of edible products, he said having his chaplain team has helped him and his employees get through many storms. “It is simple. An employee that feels cared for is a better employee, there is no question about it.”

The flooding expanded from Washington, down to Reno, Nevada, where Marketplace Chaplains had to help each other out with flooded homes while also helping employees in need.

“While major storms make the headlines, the personal storms of life go unnoticed, but not by our chaplains,” said Doug Fagerstrom, Executive President and CEO of Marketplace Chaplains. “The storm of a broken relationship, a tidal wave of a major loss or the uncontrollable ravage of cancer are thwarted by caring chaplains in the workplace every day.”

For more information on this unique employee benefit which has been featured in Marketplace Chaplains on CNN, NBC Nightly News, and in the Washington Post, the New York Times and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, visit https://mchapusa.com.

About Marketplace Chaplains:  To arrange an interview with a Marketplace Chaplain, contact Art Stricklin, Vice President Public Relations, at artstricklin@mchapusa.com or call 1-800-775-7657

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