Answering the Call

BY BRANDY M. CALVERT, ED.D. AND TINA V. BRYSON

One day a farmer from Idaho called Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) and spoke to Alice Murphy, a customer service specialist. The farmer had come in from work in the fields to find that his wife had left him and taken the children. She had left a note. He was crushed when he read that she could not take the seclusion and mundane life of living in the middle of nowhere, of being married to a farmer. On the table near that note, he saw a letter from CAP. He immediately called the number on the letter, and Alice answered.

“I prayed with him for months for comfort and strength to get him through that difficult time,” Murphy said. “He called a few more times to donate and he always asked for me if I wasn’t the one who answered. I get a little emotional when a caller asks for prayer because I can hear the concern, desperation, and pain in their voice.”

If you’ve ever called CAP, you have probably spoken with Murphy, who is the first point of contact for most callers. Donors sometimes call with questions or with prayer requests, and people in need call Murphy for help. She connects CAP donors and prospective volunteers with the children, families, and seniors in need that CAP serves in Appalachia.

When she says she “gets” to talk to folks, she means it just like that. Murphy loves to talk to callers. And she loves to listen. She makes connections and exemplifies CAP’s core values of faith, service, and compassion in her approach to every phone call.

When Kentucky began to shut down, Murphy, like other office staff members, had to relocate to her home, but in spite of myriad challenges presented by COVID-19, she didn’t skip a beat. “I love that we’re a human services organization,” she explained. “When I was in the corporate world, I didn’t always come home and feel good about myself. Now, when I log out at the end of the day, I know I’ve helped at least one person.”

COVID-19 not only impacted CAP’s operations, but Murphy noticed a change in calls too. “Some donors called to say that they’d lost their jobs and needed to reduce the amount of their regular donation or to cancel altogether,” Murphy explained. “In other cases, donors called to increase their gifts understanding how the need in Appalachia had increased. Some just called to pray with and for us.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Appalachian region was also hit with flooding, high winds, and even a tornado in one county. “It was just call after call for two weeks from people who were in dire straits,” Murphy noted. “Twenty-five thousand people were without electricity for two weeks.”

People needed help. Some needed food, others had houses that had slid off foundations. One grandmother was living in a garage with three little grandchildren and no electricity. They all called CAP.

Murphy did what she does best. She made connections, determined the need, and connected callers to CAP staff who could step in and help them address their situations.

She’s transformed the Customer Service Program, too. She takes time to hand write prayer cards and sympathy cards, and loves adding a personal touch to the notes. “I want the caller or donor to know that they were heard individually and that I paid attention to their specific need,” she said.

“When I think about Alice, I think about how far the CAP Customer Service Program has evolved,” said Ryan Leigh Chapman, director of Direct Response fundraising. “Alice is someone who has taken time to get to know the program managers, learn CAP’s history, and really learn all the facets of what we do as a nonprofit serving exclusively in Appalachia. Alice doesn’t just answer the phone and transfer the call, she finds a way to connect to each of the callers. She’s literally the best listener that I’ve ever met.”

One of her most memorable phone calls came late on a Friday, just 20 minutes before quitting time. A senior called from New York. She had received a CAP calendar and got the phone number off the back. She said that she had outlived all of her family and friends.

“It was her birthday and she was 94. She said she had not seen or spoken to another human in days,” Murphy recalled. “She said that she was tired and was ready for God to call her home. I sang Happy Birthday to her and prayed with her for God’s will. She was laughing when we hung up, and I was crying. I love my job at CAP. I get to talk to donors and participants. I really do get the best of both worlds.“

A CLOSER LOOK

• During the summer months, Alice speaks with 50-75 callers per day, on average.

• During the winter months, Alice speaks with around 100 callers per day.

• Alice takes prayer requests from callers, then CAP staff pray over those requests, as many as 10-12 requests per week.

• Around 40 percent of callers are participants seeking CAP’s services.

• Around 30 percent of callers are donors with questions, comments, prayer requests, or wanting to make a donation.

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