Joe White featured speaker for Chingawassa Days church service

A life-threatening head injury in 2006 left Washburn Rural High School senior Joe White with permanent partial paralysis and speech problems. White has become a popular speaker on the school assembly circuit, sharing his story of how alcohol and bad decision-making led to the injury that forever changed his life. More than 600 students heard his presentation at Marion High School.

What White doesn’t share in his school presentations is the key role his Christian faith has played in his miraculous recovery and ongoing work.

White will return to Marion on June 3 to share that part of his story at the Chingawassa Days community worship service at USD 408 Performing Arts Center.

“What he’ll be sharing is different from what he shared with the kids. That was about drugs and alcohol,” Marion Ministerial Alliance member Carl Helm said. “What he’ll share with us is what made a change in him so that he did start progressing. This is about his faith.”

The Ministerial Alliance sponsors the event, and Helm, who attended the MHS presentation by White, said they are pleased White will further their goal of bringing motivational speakers to Marion for the service.

“We’re trying to bring in speakers that are inspirational, and he’s a very inspirational speaker,” Helm said.

White will be accompanied by Kak Eli-Schneider, the transitional specialist who worked with him after he returned to Washburn Rural to complete his high school degree. White said Eli-Schneider was instrumental in his decision to make sharing his story a full-time endeavor.

The service will include a community praise and worship band composed of high school students, Helm said.

“Attendance is always very good at this,” Helm said, noting last year’s service featuring former KU basketball player Wayne Simien drew more than 500 people.

The service at the Performing Arts Center is at 10:30 a.m.