Giving His Food and His Heart

^{Dejay Jackson - Dietary Manager at Golden Years}

_{October 20, 2022}
William D. Jackson III, better known as Dejay, lives the Foundations Culture of Care every day and in every way. Dejay first came to our company a little over 5 years ago as a Dietary Aide at Maria Joseph in Cincinnati. Nick Anderson, our Regional Director of Operations for the Cincinnati and Dayton Region, recalls first meeting Dejay:


^{Dejay Jackson and Nick Anderson}

“Dejay and I were in the same onboarding group about 5 years ago at Maria Joseph for new hires. Dejay was a new Dietary Aide, and I was the incoming Administrator. Even in such a large facility, I could hear all the good things he was doing throughout the building and heard of his desire to grow within the Dietary Department and is now a Dietary Manager at Golden Years. Dejay was active in many resident/staff events, often getting confused as an Activity Aide. He loves people, and all people love him; his passion is contagious. One of my favorite Dejay stories is after he moved to Cincinnati to pursue other interests, he still made a point to get on with a sister building of ours, Veranda Gardens, to continue developing his dietary skills and love for Foundations. While living in Cincinnati, Dejay would often Uber to Maria Joe (unbeknownst to the MJ staff) to pick up shifts merely because he missed everyone so much. After working a shift at Maria Joe, his Uber to and from Dayton was almost break even, but he didn't do it for the money, he did it to see his MJ family.”

I sat down with Dejay recently while I was working as a Nursing Assistant at Golden Years. Dejay was recently promoted to the Dietary Director position there, and I wanted to ask him a few questions. Here is Dejay in his own words:

The people who give you their food give you their heart.

- Cesar Chavez

We are so lucky to have such a tremendous leader like Dejay as part of our Foundations Family. He lives and breathes our culture and core values and cooks from his heart.

Bob Speelman, STNA