National Day of Service a new tradition for the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center

The National Day of Service is a new tradition for the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center employees and the United Gospel Rescue Mission staff.

But they joined together on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to work together and give back to the community. Mission director Rev. Greg Kirk not only calls the event fantastic, but plans to make it an annual event.

VA Equal Employment Opportunity Manager Janice Taylor reached out to Kirk to see if there was an opportunity for the staff to help, said Lacey McClintock, the VAMC’s chief of communications and stakeholder relations.

Participating were seven VA employees and seven of their family members. The staff members were from different departments in the local facility.

“It was wonderful to see them pull together to serve members of our community,” McClintock said. “Here at VA, we are honored to serve veterans every day but it was nice to meet and serve others in the community as well.”

Kirk said, “I love our VA, it’s the best to me. I’ve been associated with a lot of VAs in my time in the military, and now I’m out of the military. This is the best one I’ve ever been to and Poplar Bluff VA does more for our town than anybody ever does.”

When volunteers wanted to do something special for MLK Day, Kirk said, “Let’s do something really nice. Let’s make a big deal. We ended up making a wonderful meal of slow-roasted, sugar-cured ham. It was off the chart. We had mashed potatoes, the gravy and stuffing, corn and sweet potato casserole, rolls and we made a dump cake for dessert.”

Since there were so many volunteers, they pulled out all the stops.

“We put the tablecloths on, we had the dining room set up really nice and we set everybody down,” Kirk said. “All our clients instead of going through the lines, went to a table and sat down. We brought their meals and drinks to them. We went around and talked to everybody. The volunteers interacted with everyone. It was a great day. My take on Martin Luther King and what he stood for was service to others. The VA, I can’t give them enough kudos because everybody here was connected with the VA either as an employee or the spouse or child.

It was a great teaching experience for the men at the mission as well, Kirk said.

“I think the mission needs to make these events a special deal. Let’s help our community, let’s make something to brighten somebody’s day,” he said.

Kirk is talking to the VA about setting the date for next year.

”We know it’s going to be the third Monday in January,” Kirk said. ”Let’s do it.”

McClintock said, “We look forward to continuing this tradition on the National Day of Service each year.”