10News honors Joe Davis with the 10Leadership Award for continuing his work as Volunteer Chaplain at the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. First awarded in 2002, Davis offers solace to families who have lost a loved one as well as the investigators and ME's themselves who have to deal with tragedy on a daily basis.

Since receiving the award in 2002, Davis has established the Dunamai Ministries, which provides free counseling and other services for grieving families. They offer a free bereavement booklet and guide mourners through their grief. Davis was assigned to the Medical Examiner's Office after hearing from an investigator about the need for a chaplain.

The program was created in 2000, when Davis began accompanying investigators to notify the next-of-kin. He offered his services both to the family of the victim as well as the investigators and medical examiners. He does not push himself on families, rather he is there as the investigators break the news to answer any questions and provide comfort. In addition, all of the investigators have his personal cell phone number for their own needs.

The program takes place at the Medical Examiner's office in Kearny Mesa. Davis is available at all times, ready to accompany investigators to the scene of an accident –- usually sudden and tragic -- to a family’s home to break the devastating news or to counsel staff members. Dunamai Ministries was established as a non-profit organization and is now partnering with the San Diego Hospice in Downtown San Diego, to provide comfort to the dying as well as their grieving families.

The program has grown from Davis volunteering 20 hours of his own time after working over 40 hours a week with his business to creating the Dunamai Ministries and now having a partnership with San Diego Hospice. Davis and his grief counselors have made an impact in the lives of everyone from victim’s families to police investigators to medical examiners. They help them through the grief process, from acceptance and understanding to acknowledgement and helping them find a support group.

Currently, Davis is working part-time for the University of California, Irvine while trying to get funding to run the program. Presently, only four cities (Washington DC, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Albuquerque) have bereavement centers run through their Medical Examiner's offices, Davis is trying to establish California’s first.

For more information, please contact Dunamai Ministries at (619) 449-4532 or visit www.Dunamai.Info.