‘The things you did yestersday pay off today’
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
The Rev. Vincent Winfrey sits in the sanctuary of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Uniontown.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
The Rev. Vincent Winfrey stands in front of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church on Stewart Street in Uniontown.
The Rev. Vincent Winfrey holds an artist’s rendering of the new building being planned by the congregation of Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Uniontown.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
“You are never too busy to do a good deed. You can always take a little time out.”
That is how the Rev. Vincent Winfrey of Uniontown feels about volunteering in his community.
Helping youth has always been something that Winfrey has been passionate about. Even from an early age, he was active in working with hopeful sports stars.
“I have been volunteering since I was 12, with baseball and basketball and helping kids out,” said Winfrey, who worked with sports teams at Bailey Park, the Uniontown YMCA and the Uniontown Area School District. “I always enjoyed working with young people and seeing them develop as the year went on. They might have started out not good, but the pleasure I had was seeing the difference in them. Not in just playing, but in attitudes.”
Winfrey’s involvement with the Uniontown Area School District has gone from the basketball court to the boardroom when he was elected as the first African-American school director in 2008.
“I have a lot of grandchildren in the Uniontown school system, and I try to make a difference,” he said. “It was all about the children. Whatever I could do, I wanted to help.”
In addition to Winfrey’s leadership role on the school board, he also provides people with spiritual leadership while serving as the pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church located on Stewart Avenue in Uniontown.
“That (becoming a pastor) is the call of God,” he said. “I was always active in the church from a young boy, and at 20 I dedicated myself back to God. The Lord called me to preach.”
Because of his dedication as a pastor, Winfrey was the recipient of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Pastoral Excellence Award.
“It was fantastic that people remember me for what you do in the community. I definitely appreciated that,” he said.
But one of the most rewarding experiences for Winfrey as a pastor was watching lives change.
“I am a pastor, and I have seen people, you know, who have turned their lives around. It is thrilling for me to see somebody that was down and out turn their life around,” he said.
Winfrey added that the church is currently working on building a new church on the site of the current one which was built in 1882.
“I know it is going to further our community to have a new church on the corner of Jefferson and Stewart,” he said.
Winfrey is also serving on the board of the Uniontown Public Library and as the first vice moderator of the Youghiogheny Western Baptist Association (YWBA).
In addition to his volunteering, Winfrey also enjoys spending time with his wife, Marilyn; children, Vince Junior, Jason, Scott, Janelle, David; and his 14 grandchildren.
Throughout his course of volunteering, Winfrey has gained wisdom when it comes to giving back.
“First you owe it to God and then your community. People have helped me along the way, and I owe it to someone else,” he said. “Volunteering is important to say that I helped change things, that I helped someone turn things around. If I don’t help, I can’t say anything. But, if I helped, I can say I tried to make something of the community. The things you did yesterday pay off today.”
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