February 13 started off like any other Tuesday morning for Sun City resident Jan Scialabba who also works at the Member Services Desk at Prairie Lodge. Two buses where expected to arrive that day, prepared to take fellow residents to the Chicago Auto Show. Nothing out of the ordinary for the seasoned Member Services Desk professional.
As attendees prepared to board the buses, it dawned on one gentleman that he had forgotten his walking cane at home. With the buses set to leave to their destination, the attendee had no time to retrieve his cane. It was at that moment that Scialabba took it upon herself to aid a resident in need in the most unexpected of ways.
Deanna Loughran, the executive director of First Service Residential, Sun City’s management company, explained how Scialabba’s associates emailed her soon after in recognition of Scialabba’s kind gesture.
Loughran stated, “Basically, her fellow associates sent me an email about her actions. After learning about the gentleman forgetting his cane, she gave him the keys to her car so that he could grab her spare cane and use that on the trip.”
Scialabba even earned a small mention in one of Sun City’s board meetings.
In the email sent to Loughran regarding Scialabba, the fellow associate mentions how the attendee jokingly asked Scialabba if he could borrow the cane she was using, not expecting her to go the extra mile in actually providing him a cane he could use.
Most admirable of all,”[Jan] had no idea who he was and told him to give the cane to the trip escort on the bus ride home after the trip was over,” according to the associate’s email.
Although the identity of the gentleman in need is unknown to Scialabba, her noble deed allowed for the attendee to make the most out of his experience at the Chicago Auto Show which would have otherwise been made difficult without a walking cane.
It just goes to show that a little kindness, no matter how small the gesture, can go a long way.
