Mt. Vernon’s Missouri Veterans Home gets special gift and support from high school regional tech students and faculty

MT. VERNON, Mo. (KY3) - Across the state there are seven Missouri Veterans Homes who manage a total of 1,238 beds that provide long term skilled nursing care. One of those locations is in Mount Vernon, where on Friday patients were treated to a special Veterans Weekend meal from a group of area high school students.

The group came from the Scott Regional Technology Center in Monett, which includes 14 feeder schools from the Ozarks.

And not only did they build the big smoker used to prepare about 90 pounds of BBQ ribs, they donated it to the Missouri Veterans Homes so that there can be many more BBQ meals to come for the 122 patients there.

It took about a year for the students to finish the project.

“You have to realize we only have students for about two-and-a-half hours in the morning and two-and-a-half hours in the afternoon,” explained Scott Regional Technology Welding Instructor Aaron Obermann. “And it took probably 500-600 man-hours in the welding shop. But this was all about community service and where in the world could we do more important community service than for these individuals that are here?”

Around 30 students joined the veterans for the Veterans Day weekend BBQ luncheon but at times the dining room was very quiet.

“I watched the kids and they struggled sometimes to find common ground to speak to somebody and break the ice,” Obermann observed. “But one thing I’ve noticed about the individuals in this building is that they’re willing to talk and there’s a story in every one of them.”

84 year-old Cleo Lollar of Greenfield is an Army veteran (1962-64) and says sometimes it is hard for the veterans to talk about what’s happened in their lives.

“There are people from all the wars here and some who were prisoners of war,” he pointed out. “But it’s a shame that a lot of us have lost part of our thinking ability and others have lost their ability to get around.”

But make no mistake about it.

While the high school students and nursing home patients live in different worlds, the veterans appreciated the smoker and the ribs.

“It was good,” Lollar said of the ribs. “And that smoker is big! You can probably put a whole buffalo in there! We’ll put it to good use.”

“It’s always a great thing when we can get the students involved with the veterans,” said Missouri Veterans Home Administrator April Cutbirth. “It means the world to them. We have veterans all the way from the Gulf War up to World War II and when you come here and hear the stories they tell, they are stories that you only hear in history books.”

Yet some of those stories are simple and touching.

After seeing two men in wheelchairs one-behind-the-other headed down a hallway, an employee explained that just as these veterans stuck together during their days as soldiers, they still look out for each other even as they go down a hallway.

“That’s Dick (in the wheelchair in the front by about 10-feet) and he’s always making sure that Charlie, who’s behind him, gets where he needs to be by showing him the way,” she said. “They met here at the Veterans Home and became very good friends.”

The Missouri Veterans Home showed its appreciation by donating $2,000 to the Scott Regional Technology Center and Bob Adams, the Veterans Council President, took advantage of the check presentation to make a recruiting speech to the high school students.

“This check represents a small donation for all your labor and shows we appreciate the great job you did,” Adams said. “And keep in mind you men and women need to join us as soon as you finish high school. The Army and Marines are especially having a hard time recruiting. That’s where the need is and that’s where the challenge is. You’ve met this challenge. Now meet this future challenge by joining the armed forces.”

It is that kind of loyalty that’s amazing to see considering many of the patients here have endured a great deal of life struggles all in the name of protecting our country.

At the front of the Missouri Veterans Home is a sign that best describes the people who live there and should leave every grateful American with a lump in their throat....

“The Price of Freedom is Visible Here”

“There were some real emotions from walking through that door,” said Monett senior David Southard. “It’s a pretty big thing and I just kind of realized that today. It’s priceless.”

“It shows what they’ve given up for their freedom as well as ours,” added Billings senior Noah Woody. “They put their bodies on the line.”

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