Miss Bryan.

Yes, sir, and I have the honor of reading the proclamation, which says, whereas the El Paso Police Department Chaplaincy program has faithfully served members of the department and the community of El Paso on an interdenominational and non-sectarian basis since the mid-1970s, representing nearly 50 years of continuous service.

And whereas, although no official record exists documenting the program's exact beginning, its longstanding presence reflects a deep and enduring commitment to spiritual care, compassion, and community service within the city of El Paso.

And whereas the chaplaincy program is comprised of qualified and recognized faith leaders from the community, each with a minimum of three years of ministry experience, who volunteer their time as a personal commitment to service and are available on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

And whereas a primary mission of the El Paso Police Chaplaincy is to provide spiritual and emotional support to more than 1,400 sworn officers and civilian employees of the El Paso Police Department as well as to their families.

And whereas by extension of this mission, police chaplains also stand ready to serve the broader community of El Paso, Texas, offering nonsectarian and interdenominational spiritual care during times of need.

And whereas police chaplains serve in a wide range of circumstances, including ceremonial, community-based, and crisis situations by offering invocations and benedictions at graduations, award ceremonies, city council meetings, and public events, as well as providing spiritual support during death notifications, critical incidents, stress management, faith-based counseling, funerals, weddings, and other moments when their presence is requested.

And whereas in times of uncertainty and hardship, the chaplain's presence provides calm, understanding, and reassurance, reminding all involved that they are not alone.

And whereas the City of El Paso proudly recognizes the dedicated service of El Paso Police Department chaplains, including David Mayfield, Senior Chaplain Joe Morata, Dr.

Robert Hemphill, Rabbi Levi Greenberg, Larry Boone, and Sam Froni, Chaplain Emeritus, whose leadership, faith, and volunteer service continue to strengthen the department and the community.

And whereas the city further acknowledges Sergeant Javier Sambrano, who serves as the El Paso Police Department Chaplaincy Program Coordinator, for his leadership and support in ensuring the continued success and effectiveness of this program.

Now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and council of the city of El Paso, recognizing and honoring the El Paso Police Department Chaplaincy program for its nearly 50 years of dedicated service, compassion and spiritual care to the Department and the people of El Paso, and extend sincere appreciation to all chaplains and supporters who make this vital program possible.

January 20th, 2026 shall be known as the El Paso Police Department Chaplain Day, signed by our Honorable Mayor Renard Johnson.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Well, I'll start.

Sure.

Well, first of all, thank you very much for this recognition.

Those of you on the council have heard me speak often enough that you know that I believe service to be one of the highest human callings.

I am very appreciative, not only of this recognition, but of the opportunity afforded us by the El Paso Police Department and by this council to be of service to the men and women of the police department and our fellow citizens of this city of El Paso.

He's uh tasked with the unveilable job of coordinating six very independent-minded chaplains as evidenced by the fact that he could only get half of us here this morning.

Um again, I simply say thank you very much for the opportunity to serve.

Thank you.

I'm Robert Hempel.

I served as a Methodist minister and uh received my ordination.

But when I reached a certain age, I said you have to retire.

And I felt like I can't retire from this type of work.

And a couple of years ago I had Sergeant uh Brown and his band come to my church, and we did a New Orleans style 19 June celebration in church.

A lot of people showed up, and then they heard me play piano, and then I was invited to his band.

And I found that this is a good opportunity for me to continue to serve the community.

I thank the police department, the city council for giving me that opportunity to continue to serve the community, and I enjoyed his work, and I've obviously told some of the people that I do more with the police department than I did with the church.

So thank you for this opportunity.

God bless you.

I don't have much to add.

Thank you for the recognition.

Um I would like to say a special thank you to Sergeant Sombrano.

Uh not just for coordinating everything that's going on in the police department, but also being a true friend and partner in ensuring the security of our places of worship.

Um very recently during Hanukkah when we had um real concerns about things that were going on around the world.

Sergeant Sembrano was there to take my phone call.

He even showed up in full regalia.

And we appreciate that very much, and I appreciate the fact that the city recognizes this small but important part of the police department and the service that it provides to the department and to the city at large.

God bless you.

Of course, we're very appreciative of uh the recognition, and so we'd like to uh thank you for the for the support.

Um the chaplains have done a wonderful job for uh many years uh helping not only the uh community but our officers have been there when uh many hard times uh happen in uh uh personal lives and and actually even in in professional lives.

And so that it is uh definitely uh great support for all of our officers and the community.

Uh one thing that I would like to uh add too is of course uh anybody that is interested in becoming part of the chaplaincy, anybody that is a uh ordained uh minister that is interested in serving, we invite them to uh take that opportunity and be involved and and join this uh great group of uh chaplains that that we have here in the in the city of El Paso and serving the police department.

Thank you all very much.

Well, thank you guys for you know volunteering 24 hours a day, excuse me, seven days a week, and stepping up like you do with the care and compassion that you bring this community.

Uh simply being there when individuals are often at their lowest point, struggling with stress, trauma, grief, our personnel challenges, you guys are always there to to support.

And like previously mentioned, uh just your presence brings calm and reassurance that we are not alone during these difficult times.

And on behalf of all of our employees and our sworn public safety officers and our civilian employees, we want to just simply say thank you guys, because we could not do this without you.

So thank you guys so much.

And I think next we got to figure out how to get into the band.

Thank you guys.

And the next proclamation is Crystal Poppen Day.

Representative Rocha.

Yes, sir.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Welcome, Crystal.

Thank you for welcome.