Friends United Meeting |
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April 2004
Heroes in Disguise
By Nancy K. Brown
Dean and Freeda Johnson don’t look like heroes. Nevertheless, to the hundreds of lives they’ve impacted, that’s exactly what they are.
Arriving on the scene in the aftermath of a devastating tornado, the Johnsons became heroes to many in the small community of Van Wert, Ohio. With more than 100 homes damaged or destroyed by the level-four twister, the county was stunned. Within days of the disaster, however, Dean and Freeda had traveled from Peninsula, Ohio, ready to assess the damage.
What were they looking for? The most desperate of the desperate—and their search didn’t take long. As they canvassed the area for a first-hand look at the piles of rubble scattered across the county, they began to put out the word that they had come to help. They would assist in the rebuilding process.
What is so amazing about this, you might ask? It’s that Dean is 73-years-old and Freeda is 67. It doesn’t seem as though the couple plans to slow down any time in the near future, though. In fact, it was when Dean took early retirement back in 1985 that the work really began!
Dean is director of Friends Disaster Service. The organization had been created on paper by Eastern Region of the Evangelical Friends Church, but lacked that special “someone” willing to take-on its leadership.
However, in the aftermath of the deadly tornado that hit Xenia, Ohio in 1974, two leaders suddenly emerged. Touched by the desperate need of those who had lost everything, the Johnsons decided they would be the ones to reach out to disaster victims. The mission statement of their organization became, “FDS gives free cleanup and rebuilding assistance to victims of disasters, paying particular attention to the elderly, disabled, uninsured and low-income persons.”
As Dean puts it, “Basically, we help folks who have nowhere else to turn.”
The Johnsons came to realize God was calling them to a life of service. So, for the next 11 years they used vacation days, days off and personal days to give volunteer assistance in disaster stricken areas. Then, in 1985, when Dean was 55, the couple rolled up their sleeves, adjusted to a simpler lifestyle and committed themselves to full-time ministry helping others in the wake of natural disasters.
When Dean is asked what special skills he had to begin the ministry, he says, “Our skills at that time were basically just being available and willing.” He went on to say, “It was a growing and learning experience. We learned organizational and administrative skills by doing.”
Looking back at their years of work Freeda says, “God took two hillbilly kids with high school educations, and He built this ministry.”
Yes, Dean and Freeda are simple, ordinary folk, both born and reared in farming communities of southern Ohio. Even so, the work they do is extraordinary. They’ve headed more than 150 work projects across the United States since 1985, and have responded to earthquakes and hurricanes throughout Central America, including Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Honduras. They clean up, re-roof barns and houses and even begin construction from the ground up.
Dave and Sharon Boroff, victims of the Van Wert tornado, said, “If it hadn’t been for Dean and Freeda, we never would have been able to go on.”
The Boroffs’ home had been completely destroyed, but the retired couple didn’t have enough insurance to rebuild. Dean made several calls and within days a volunteer crew of workers came from as far away as Wisconsin. Sleeping on cots and in sleeping bags at Trinity Friends, the crew built the Boroffs a new home, as well as completing two other houses and several major rebuilds.
Most of the materials for disaster work projects are donated by area businesses and organizations, such as the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and local interfaith groups. The labor is provided by men and women from all over the country—and headed by Dean. FDS doesn’t supply building materials, but furnishes all the manpower and organization that’s needed. And they do it from a Christian perspective.
Dean says, “We ask that all volunteers be willing to participate in, or at least be present and respectful during devotional and prayer times each day.”
There’s always room for more volunteer help and sometimes the crews run a bit slim. However, the volunteers who come are of all ages and from all walks of life. Not only do church youth groups pitch in, but young and middle-age men and women volunteer as well. Sometimes the workers are as old as 80.
That’s how the Friends Disaster Service works. Dean directs the projects, and Freeda finds a local facility that will open its doors and allow her to cook three hot meals a day for the work crews.
For 24 years funding for Friends Disaster Service was provided by an annual auction. Then in 2002, the auction ceased, and an annual benefit banquet is held in September at Canton First Friends Church, Ohio. Donations from caring supporters are also a major part of funding. Freeda says, “So many times I’ve said, ‘Lord, I don’t think I can do this,’ but then He gives me the strength, and He provides what we need.”
When asked about the future of FDS and how long the couple plans to continue the work, Dean says, “I’m now 73, but I would like to have an active part in the operation of FDS as long as I’m physically and mentally able.”
What Dean would like to do, though, is to develop several crew leaders who could take response crews to disaster sites. That would free him to work on promotion, fund raising and recruiting. He says that he and Freeda are drawing up a suggested list of qualifications and expectations for future assistant leaders.
And what do the Johnsons feel is most memorable and rewarding about their years of work?
Dean says, “It’s hard to pick a most memorable experience when there are so many, but I guess most often it’s driving along on the return trip home and experiencing the blessing of God that fills the heart and soul, and often runs down the cheeks, as joy overflows and cannot be contained. The feeling that someone already hard-pressed by the world and its circumstances, who then gets hit with overwhelming loss, is able to meet some of God’s most gentle and loving servants, and ends up better off than they were before the disaster hit.”
It’s hard for some of us to understand why the Johnsons would want to spend their retirement years working this way, but Dean says, “It’s like a spiritual revival to go out and do what Jesus would do, and in fact is doing, through the volunteers of FDS.”
Yes, Dean and Freeda Johnson really are heroes, though they would never say so. Their years of sacrifice, offered because they simply see themselves as God’s hands extended, cannot be measured or repaid.
Nancy Brown is a member of Trinity Friends, Van Wert, Ohio.
Copyright (c) 2004 Friends United Meeting
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