Crimson and Gold Connection; James Whitford

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected to the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. Hello and welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, I'm Kelsey Renfrow. This week our guest is James Whitford. Mr. Whitford is a Pittsburgh State University alumnus with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and is one of the 2014 Outstanding Alumni Recipients. James, thanks for joining us, what are you currently doing professionally? Well, I direct a gospel rescue mission, so it's a 45-bed shelter for the homeless and then we have an outreach program where we meet a lot of needs in communities, you know, in joblin' and surrounding communities. I also still do some of, well, I went on after Pittsburgh State and got a degree in physical therapy and I still do a little bit of that as well.

What made you decide to attend Pittsburgh State University? Probably just being in the area, you know, I was born in joblin' and so I was familiar with Pittsburgh State and had no idea, the education I was going to receive there, I mean, I'd heard good things about it but certainly my biology education there was significant. In fact, this is something that's kind of interesting to share when I went on from Pittsburgh State to KU Medical Center and one of my first classes at KU Medical Center was Human Anatomy and Dissection and I ended up actually testing out of that class early because my anatomy education had been so strong from Pittsburgh State University so just an incredible biology program there at the time I was there and I imagine it's still as strong. What got you interested in the mission work coming out of college? Well, my faith in God was certainly the number one thing and then just meeting people

along the road of life that were struggling on a lot of fronts and so I just felt led, my wife and I co-founded the mission and we just felt led to be involved with really helping people out of poverty so our goal is to see more than poverty alleviation but poverty resolution in people's lives. How do you think your time at Pittsburgh State influenced you to serve other people? I think that, you know, again, just coming back to the quality of education that was at Pitt State for me really helped me move on so just admission into physical therapy schools at that particular point, I'm not sure how it is now but at that particular point it was very, very competitive and if you didn't have, you know, a good undergrad education, you were going to have a hard time getting into master's level and then doctorate level

physical therapy program and so the fact that I was blessed enough to have that education and that it was part of what propelled me into a work of serving others through, you know, in the medical field as a physical therapist and then I went on to certify as a wound to care specialist so most of what I did during my time as a therapist was really in wound care and learning, you know, how to serve other people in that regard has really been a good, a good building platform for the mission work that I'm in currently so again going all the way back to, you know, the early mid 1990s when I was at Pittsburgh State University the quality of education there that helped to launch me into a medical field where I'm serving other people is connected to what I'm doing today and serving the four.

How does it feel to be chosen as one of the 2014 outstanding alumni recipients? Well, it's very humbling. I mean, I know I'm with a few other people and the things that these folks have accomplished in their lives is incredible compared to what I've done and so I'm very humbled to be, you know, with that group and have even seen some of the, you know, seen the list of previous award recipients and there's some really wonderful people in there so it's quite a recognition. I mean, you know, I don't think anybody goes on to, you know, serve in life and with a hope for people to do better like what we're doing at our mission and our mission work and ever expect to be recognized for something like that so I'm sure I speak for other award recipients too. I think there's just a basis of wanting to better life and serve, you know, our fellow man in various ways and what it is

that we do and trying to excel and whatever it is that's before us and so, you know, to be recognized for that is unforeseen and not expected and quite an honor. Well, you've already accomplished so much. What's next for you? Do you have any specific goals for the future? Yeah, well, so just a couple of years ago, we launched an initiative called the True Charity Initiative. It's purposes to call communities to effective charity and freedom from welfare. So our focus right now is being a model of, you know, a charity that really helps to truly empower the poor and not foster dependency in them through repetitive handouts. And we'd also like to see a community, whether it be Joplin or another community that begins to model effective charity without welfare. And so we really want to see aspects of welfare

returned back into local private charity that we think is more effective and really helping people. So I think that's the future probably getting into some welfare reform and public policy stuff. Thank you for joining us today. Can you leave us with maybe your favorite memory from Pittsburgh State University? I think that some of my favorite times, gosh, just I remember spending time in the library studying and I remember, you know, it would sound so strange to say that some of my favorite times were in the cadaver dissection lab, but certainly, you know, I gained a true deep appreciation for the miracle of the human body through my time in anatomy and dissection. And so those are certainly great times that I remember learning more about how we're

put together. And again, you know, I think there's something so special about the start of a school year in the fall. And, you know, the campus of Pittsburgh State University just is a beautiful campus. And when fall would come and the leaves would change and it just all went together so well with with the learning environment. So those are some good memories for me. Our guest today has been James Whitford, one of the 2014 Outstanding Alumni Recipients. I'm Kelsey Renfrow. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection, Wednesdays at 850 and Fridays at 350.