Construction Company Presents Jefferson Barracks Reserves with Christmas Gift

Monday morning, the company who built Jefferson Barracks' newest building gave two National Guard families the opportunity to have a better Christmas.

Sgt. Teresa Addison and Spc. Tiffany McPherson of the 735^th Field Service Company received a total of $1,310 in Christmas cheer from K&S Associates.

Tears came as the two ripped open their envelopes containing gift certificates to Target, Quick Trip and Walmart.

Addison has been in the National Guard for nine years and served in Kosovo for a year in March 2008. Now, she's working part time, going to nursing school and raising her teenage daughter while still serving in the reserves.

McPherson also received the gift and has served in the Guard for 10 years. She was stationed in Germany for three years and was deployed to Iraq in 2003. McPherson works at the Joint Reserve Armed Forces Center and has a 6-year-old son diagnosed with chronic asthma.

In constant financial stress, Addison and McPherson applied for help through the Missouri National Guard's Family Readiness Support program.

"I am just so touched they thought about us. I just want to make my daughter happy and for them to think about us was just very touching," Addison said. "Christmas to me is seeing smiles on kids' faces. This will help us so much."

K&S employees raised the money by raffling car washes, days off and event tickets.

"We only have about 40 employees in the company," said Mary Jo Stephens from K&S Associates. "I'm so grateful we work with such nice, generous employees."

Stephens along with Neal Trentman presented the two families with the gift certificates.

"We accelerated very fast this year. We raised $300 last year and our goal was $500 this year. Employees raised $810 and the company contributed another $500," Stephens said. 

"We built this facility and every year we try to do something for the community. We thought they could use the help for how much they do for our freedom and us," Trentman said. "We wanted to find someone locally that we could help."

After returning home from serving abroad, McPherson missed work and had to leave school to take care of her son. She struggled to find a full-time job and returned to the National Guard in a full-time unit.

Since the Army will not accept single mothers for active duty, and her current unit will be disbanded in January, McPherson will lose that full-time job after the holidays.

"I will be a single mother with no job, no car and no insurance for my asthmatic child. That is my drive, to find a job and keep it," McPherson wrote in her application.   

Many more military families are in need of assistance this year than in the past, said Family Readiness Support Assistant Christine Betcher.