Vesta Godwin Clark is the Executive Director of St. James Social Service Corporation (SJSSC) located in Newark, New Jersey. She has served in the position since 1999 and states “I have the best job in the world – one where I can use my professional and personal gifts while working for the Lord and His people”. Under her leadership, St. James Social Service Corporation has grown from two programs to several which range from the largest emergency food pantry in Essex County to being a licensed HIV testing site and provider of emergency services to more than 30,000 men, women and children. Through the feeding programs alone, annually, over 150,000 units of food are provided to more than 20,000 people, but during the height of the 2020 Covid19 pandemic, she and her staff provided food to more than 28,000 during a three month period. . At the start of the stay at home order, SJSSC was the only provider of emergency food open in Essex and the surrounding Counties. Without volunteers, distributing outside, she and her staff provided both groceries and hot meals five days a week. One of the agency’s highlights was being featured in 2010, on the Foodnetwork’s Restaurant Impossible where renowned Chef Robert Irvin, renovated their soup kitchen. During the pandemic, the agency was featured on a new segment entitled Quarantine Check-in with Chef Robert As Executive Director, Vesta oversees a full-time staff of ten, and numerous volunteers daily.
Prior to her service at St. James, Vesta served as Executive Director for Jersey Cares, a program that connects volunteers with non-profits; and 10,000 Mentors, a one to one mentoring program for children. She also held the position of Division Director for the March of Dimes where she was employed for ten years.
Vesta graduated in May 1995 with a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration from William Paterson College (now University) located in Wayne, New Jersey. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Public and Non-Profit Management in 1993 from the same institution and is a 1981 graduate of Rutgers the State University of New Jersey – Livingston College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology.
A member of many organizations, Vesta became a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated in May 1980. She has the honor of being a Charter Member of the collegiate chapter located at Rutgers University in New Brunswick – Gamma Kappa. Since graduating, she has been an active member of her alumnae chapter in Plainfield. A Life Member, Vesta has held positions on the National, Regional, State, and Local levels which included National Second Vice President and New Jersey State Director. She also wrote and published the first New Jersey State Zeta Phi Beta History Book in 1996.
Active in her community, Vesta was appointed by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to the Workforce Development Board in 2015, where she serves as Vice Chairman. She-is a founding member and past President of Women In Support of the Million Man March (W.I.S.O.M.M.M.) and has served on several other boards over the years. Vesta is proud of the fact that she was a member of the Rutgers University Board of Trustees where at the time of her first term, she was the youngest elected Alumnae Trustee and was re-elected to serve a term as a Charter Trustee where she served a total of nine years.
Vesta is an active member of Saint James AME Church, where Rev. Ronald L. Slaughter is the senior pastor. As a 25 year plus member, Vesta has held many leadership positions over the years and is a member of the Steward Board, the Marriage Enrichment Ministry, the Beautification Ministry, which she leads and is a member of the Liturgical Dance Ministry, which brings her joy. Vesta has traveled frequently to Australia which has been part of her ministry which included traveling with former pastor, Rev. William Watley for preaching engagements and leading a delegation of 50 people “down under” which included members of the Dance Ministry and Praise Team. There they had the opportunity to minister to thousands of people at the Canberra International Multicultural Festival which Vesta for five years served as an unofficial ambassador helping build God’s kingdom, literally on the other side of the world .
Vesta is dedicated to both her immediate and extended family. She is married to Rev. Reginald V. Clark who is the Minister to Men at Saint James. They reside in Newark, NJ and through her marriage; she has three children, Jessica, Brittany and Ryan and two granddaughters.
Vesta Godwin Clark is a woman who loves the Lord and says, “I am obligated to tell the world of His goodness, His greatness and all He has done for me. For He has been too good not to tell it all“
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4