FORD CITY, Pa. — A local first responder has lost his job after he reportedly shared an inappropriate post on Facebook regarding a visiting orphan choir from Liberia.
Pastor Rany Herbe tells Channel 11 he was disturbed to see the social media post about the Matsiko World Orphan Choir.
“It’s appalling, it’s sad we wanted to bring in a group to show joy, show love, show peace,” Herbe said. " It’s a traveling group that goes all over the country.”
The Executive Director for the Ford City Ambulance Service, David Dunmire, confirms to us that a longtime EMT shared a photo post on the Ford City Ambulance Employees private Facebook page. The caption of the photo, which shows a group of kids walking into the First Church of Ford City, says “please make sure all doors are closed and locked. This is what we have next to the station.”
“They are an amazing group of kids. They are orphans from Liberia, Africa, and they come over and put on a wonderful concert. They needed a place to stay for two days. We opened our church up for them to sleep in the basement of our church,” Herbe said.
Herbe says this incident is a shame.
“The way I see it, it seems racist. We opened this church up to this group without any fears, without worrying,” he said.
Dunmire shared a public apology that reads in part “We are taking this matter very seriously. We are actively reviewing our policies, and we will be implementing additional training to ensure that all employees understand the importance of sensitivity and respect in all forms of communication.”
Dunmire said the EMT took down the post and they fired him immediately. Dunmire also said the employee was the volunteer fire chief for Manor Township, and has since stepped down from that position.
Don Windham, the president of the choir group, said he was shocked by this incident and said why this person could not take the few steps to ask them who they were instead of posting this slandering text is beyond him.
“An apology, which I understand has been made, it’s good enough by me. Hate for someone to ruin their life with whats going on, I feel bad for him. I would hope he would get in touch with me and learn about my church and what we do,” Herbe said.
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