A police chief has garnered thousands of views on social media thanks to a video of him singing to a group of residents at a skilled nursing facility.
Darlington Police Chief Jason King’s aunt and uncle are residents at the Lafayette Manor, a 64-bed SNF in Darlington, WI. After being asked to sing at the facility by his aunt, King decided to schedule an event for residents and sing to them on Saturday.
After the department was short-staffed over the weekend, he had to change his plans. However, he felt so bad that he still decided to show up to the nursing facility and sing for the residents anyway.
Video posted from the event shows King covering the song “Hallelujah,” which was written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen and popularized by Welsh musician John Cale. The video has about 30,000 views since being posted last week.
“We all had a nice time and I decided to post the video on our department’s Facebook page thinking some Darlington residents would get a kick out of it. Never did I think it would go viral,” King told McKnight’s. “There are 2,500 residents in Darlington, but as of today, the video has reached nearly 54,000 people. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Administrator Peggy Rolli told McKnight’s King has been singing for residents for several years and they all enjoyed his performance Saturday.
“I just think it’s wonderful how we’re the only skilled nursing facility in Lafayette County and we have a lot of caring people that bring their talents to the nursing home, and it’s just a very good thing,” Rolli said.
