The morning after 58 people died in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, the Las Vegas Office of Emergency Management called Brian Scroggins with two questions: Would he help establish a family crisis response center? And would he be responsible for the spiritual and religious needs of the victims and their families?
A lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Scroggins is a welfare specialist for dozens of southern Nevada churches. He is in charge of ensuring that Mormons are ready for hardship—whether a natural disaster or the loss of a job—by putting aside money and at least a three-month supply of food and water.
He headed to the Las Vegas Convention Center on October 2 and prayed with the distressed and cried with the mourning, such as a man whose fiancée died in his arms.
