Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Leslie Koxvold | Clarksville, Tenn. – Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Nashville and Talent...... read more read more
On a cold Tuesday night, people gather together in the basement of The Liberty Church in Clarksville, Tenn. There is a gentle murmur of greetings accompanied by the laughter of children as Future Sailors of the United States Navy and their recruiters work to set up tables.
The doors to the Manna Café Ministries have only been open for minutes and the room is steadily filling with people awaiting a hot meal. A steady rumble continues to grow with the arrival of more hungry guests, ranging from small children to elderly.
Whether young or old, homeless or just struggling to make ends meet, the Manna Café Ministries is a mobile soup kitchen serving people in need throughout Clarksville, Tenn. and Montgomery County , Tenn.
This night had volunteers from Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) Nashville and Talent Acquisition Onboarding Center (TAOC) Music City, most of whom were Future Sailors in the Delayed Entry Program. The volunteer sign-up was organized by Onboarding Director, Navy Counselor Chief Petty Officer Joshua Johnson and Onboarding team member, Nuclear Machinist Mate First Class Kyle Robins.
Since the transformation from legacy recruiting to the NTAG and TAOC models, the onboarding team has been provided an opportunity to get creative with engaging their Future Sailors.
“I just wanted to start doing something different, like COMRELs overseas, and introduce Future Sailors to what they’d be doing overseas,” said Johnson.
For Rob Hall, the lead for the Manna Café Ministries Clarksville site, the help was greatly needed. He states the busiest times are usually the end of the month, and they do not typically have many people volunteer on weeknights.
As a veteran himself Hall says, “It’s awesome whenever we have our military services coming out. We know they are out giving all they can and they come back and give back to their community. It is really awesome.”
The volunteers consisted of Future Sailors from detachments in Clarksville, Tenn.; Bowling Green, Ky.; Gallatin, Tenn.; and Rivergate, Tenn.; along with Johnson, Robins, and NTAG Nashville’s Executive Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Tanner Acker.
“This is what it is all about,” said Acker “these guys are signing up to serve their country, but first they are serving their community.”
After all the patrons have left with boxes of food, clothes and full bellies, the tables are cleared, the floors are swept and the Future Sailors gather around for their meeting. Johnson and Acker speak to the group about the importance of what they have done.
“Coming out to these things is the highlight of my job,” Acker tells the Future Sailors. “What you are doing here makes a difference. What you are doing in the Navy makes a difference.”
“What we are trying to teach in the Navy is that it is about the people, serving the people,” said Johnson, “because we are a Navy of people.”
NTAG Nashville/TAOC Music City is one of 5 NTAGs nationwide. More than 100,000 square miles are assigned to NTAG Nashville/TAOC Music City including counties in Tennessee, Arkansas, northern Alabama, northern Georgia, northern Mississippi, southern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia.
| Date Taken: | 11.27.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 12.05.2018 11:11 |
| Story ID: | 302258 |
| Location: | CLARKSVILLE, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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