Creating a WOW Moment for a resident is one of the best parts of working for Venterra Realty. Every day, we have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. We are grateful for all the WOW Moments created over 2016 and one in particular stood out among the rest! That’s why we decided to WOW Valencia at Westchase Better Living Manager, Shelby McGinnis, and present her with a $2000 check at our annual Kickoff and awards ceremony this year!
Our 2016 WOW Grand Prize Winner, Shelby, blew us away with the following incredible WOW story:
“I had a conversation back in May with one of our residents about her daughter having a serious heart surgery in Rhode Island. She cried when she told me she was trying to save money to go see her, but she and her husband are both retired and on a fixed income and simply could not afford the ticket.
I called her later and covertly got more information from her about when she was going to try to go and how long of a trip she was aiming for. With our WOW budget we could afford the round trip ticket, a carry-on bag, a travel neck pillow,
some magazines and crossword puzzle books, some travel sized toiletries, and a $50 VISA gift card to help with any other travel expenses.
The morning of the WOW I called her to tell her she had a really big package in the office. When she got to the office the entire Valencia team was waiting on her and when she saw the gift bag she immediately got emotional. We had her open the card we had all signed with the gift card
in it and told her that we knew she was planning on traveling to see her daughter soon and we wanted to help. She was overcome with emotion just reading the card and with the $50 gift card. We then had her open the gift bag which had the carry-on bag in it filled with the travel accessories. She was so excited, and happy, and emotional with just those items. We then grabbed a small gift bag that we had hidden in an office and told her we had just one more little thing for her.
She pulled out the envelope from the small gift bag and unfolded the plane ticket reservations that showed her flying out next week for an entire week with her daughter. She just stared at it for quite a long time like she wasn’t sure what she was looking at or didn’t believe what she was looking at. She then became emotional again and was so thankful. She gave us all hugs and promised to come into the office when she gets back from her trip to tell us how it went!”
What an amazing WOW moment! Congratulations, Shelby! Thanks so much for all you did!