Area veteran’s will be honored at a special Veterans Day event on Nov. 14 from 12 to 1 p.m. at Montcalm Community College.

The event will take place on both the college’s Greenville and Sidney campuses. The live event is in room G129 in the Stanley P. Ash Technology and Learning Center on MCC’s Greenville campus and will be live-streamed in room D305 in the Beatrice E. Doser Building on MCC’s Sidney campus.

Amber Jade-Rain, MCC Records Configuration Specialist, Veterans Club co-advisor and one of the event organizers said that while Veterans Day is Friday, Nov. 11, the college decided to have its activities on Monday, Nov. 14 due to class scheduling.

“Fridays have very few in-person classes, so we are having our event at a time when we can better serve our campus populations,” she said. “We also hope that community members will be able to join in the celebration.

“We will still request a moment of silence at 11:11 on the 11^th,” Jade-Rain said.

The Nov. 14 program includes general information about Veterans Day, a roll call of MCC employees who are veterans, and a lunchtime presentation about Veterans Charity Ride by Jim Wittum, retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class. In addition, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Representative Erica Hoover will be on-site with information about women veterans from Michigan. Visit montcalm.edu/events for a link to connect to the program virtually.

Admission is free at both campuses, and lunch is provided for those attending in-person in Greenville.

The featured speaker is Lansing resident Jim Whittum, a 25-year veteran who served in the Army and the Army National Guard with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Whittum is the Founder and President of Vet2Track, a Michigan-based charitable organization that works with veterans with PTSD and other disabilities through motorcycle motorsports.  He spends a lot of time working with veterans both on the track and off, providing direction, teaching about resiliency, ownership and personal growth. 

A roll call of MCC employees and emeriti who are veterans will also be read, honoring those 20+ men and women who have served our country.

MCC began the annual Veterans Day assembly in 2007 with Dr. Gary Hauck hosting.

Jade-Rain, who served in the U.S. Army in Dongducheon, Korea, and in El Paso, Texas, was asked to read the names on the roll call in 2016.

Jade-Rain, along with Veterans Club co-advisor Jeffrey Pedelty, who served in the Michigan Army National Guard and the U.S. Army from 1982-1993, worked with Director of Student Success & Advising Lisa Gardner, Dean for Instructional Education & Workforce Training Susan Hatto, and Instructional Services Assistant Susan Moss to plan the Veterans Day event.

Media contact:
Shelly Springborn
Director of Communications and Public Relations
shellys@montcalm.edu
989-560-0833