Today’s Front Line Hero is The Village On The Isle, which showed gratitude to the high school seniors employed there by throwing them a prom.
The Village On The Isle (VOTI) is a large retirement community in Venice, Florida, with 450 residents and 300 employees. Many of those employees are high school students, and for the past few months, they have been delivering meals to the 450 residents with smiles under their face masks.
Like other high school seniors across the US, the students working at VOTI have been denied rites of passage like prom and graduation since the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close. One of the students was overheard saying that they should wear their prom dresses to work, since they would not otherwise get a chance to wear them.
The student’s idea about wearing their prom dresses to work made its way up the chain, all the way to CEO Joel Anderson. Anderson decided to go even further, and held a prom for the 24 high school students who work at VOTI.
The prom occurred on May 15 and began with a parade around VOTI’s campus, during which the high schoolers rode in golf carts, wearing their prom attire, and residents stood on their balconies to cheer and wave as they went past. Then, the students sat down to a plated dinner, served by the senior management staff at VOTI, which was followed by music and dancing.
Anderson wanted to show gratitude to the high school students who have worked faithfully throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are vested in their lives and proud of their accomplishments and we know that everyone in The Village on the Isle appreciates their care and service to our mission and our residents,” he said.
Thank you to The Village On The Isle for the kindness and gratitude you show to your employees, and for ensuring that the high schoolers working at VOTI got to enjoy a prom experience!
