Once a month, the offensive linemen participate in a community service activity, ranging from playing with children at the St. Louis Crisis Nursery, to feeding hungry families around the Thanksgiving holiday. As Veterans Day approaches, seven members of the o-line spent the morning of their off day visiting with veterans at the medical center and thanking them for their service.

When they arrived at Jefferson Barracks VA Medical Center, the linemen – Jacob Bell, Jason Brown, Renardo Foster, Hank Fraley, John Greco, Ryan McKee and Drew Miller – split into two groups to meet veterans in different facilities. One group went through the center for patients with spinal cord injuries, while the other groups met patients who were rehabilitating from various injuries. The linemen were greeted by numerous veterans who were excited to see NFL players up close and personal, and they signed autographs and posed for photos with the patients while they thanked them for their service to our country.

“It’s not just a brief ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, but it’s getting to know some of the guys,” center Jason Brown said. “It’s just a really heartwarming experience.”

Veterans Day is a meaningful time for Brown, whose brother, Lunsford Bernard Brown II, was killed in a border attack while serving overseas in September 2003.

“Veterans Day means a lot to me,” Brown said. “One thing that my brother definitely taught me was service and sacrifice, and that’s one thing I try to instill into our community and definitely to our veterans.”

Once both groups had met veterans in both facilities, they took a shuttle ride across the VA campus to visit the Fisher House, completed earlier this year. Fisher Houses provide families who have loved ones in veterans’ hospitals the opportunity to stay with them while they are receiving treatment, free of charge.

“The Fisher House is an amazing facility,” guard John Greco said. “It’s a place that houses families of veterans that are getting taken care of here at the hospital. It’s free of charge for the families that come in, and they get to use the wonderful facilities.”

The linemen met one of the families currently staying in the house, and Rachael Fernandez, manager of the St. Louis Fisher House, took them on a tour of the facility, consisting of 20 bedroom suites for veterans’ families and perhaps the best patio in St. Louis, overlooking the Mississippi River.