Most of what you and I read online and in newsletters is about trends, tech and opinions. What we don’t give enough light to are the good people who show up for others in a way that changes lives. That’s why I’m starting Good Deeds, and here’s the first story. It’s about what one property management company did for a friend.
By Clay Huston
Molly McCoy is the Office Assistant for Kerr Properties Inc. out of Happy Valley, Oregon. Kerr Properties was founded in 1981 by Tom and Sheryl Kerr. Their son, Sean, took over the family business in 2008, and now serves as Company President.
Sean, Molly, and their mutual friend Niki Doyon, who is the Office Manager at Kerr, have been friends for nearly 15 years. They were friends before they were ever co-workers, and that friendship ended up being a lifeline for Molly.
The Injury
This story starts with Sean and Niki meeting Molly through an acquaintance. A few years later, the three were running in the same friend circle that decided to go to a 4th of July party together.
It was a typical 4th of July celebration until a small piece of firework debris flew into Molly’s eye. At first, it appeared she only suffered minor injuries. But the debris activated a dormant autoimmune disease that started attacking her vision. Over the following months, Molly’s eyesight got progressively worse. She stopped driving, and began walking with a cane. She began needing help with everyday activities. And because when it rains, it pours, Molly had begun a job hunt just before sustaining the injury, meaning she was also without income or health insurance.
Molly worked as a paralegal prior to her injury. During her job hunt, she applied widely to many paralegal jobs, as well as to roles outside her field. She looked anywhere she thought she could contribute. But no one was willing to make the accommodations she would need.
“Nobody wants to hire somebody that has to take significant time off,” Niki told me. “Nobody wanted to give her that flexibility. And nobody wanted to hire her because she was going blind.”
The Gift
Molly searched for a job for over a year with no luck. She was living solely on her partial disability compensation, and her situation was approaching desperate. That’s when Sean and Niki stepped in. Sean decided to use his family business to help his friend, and they created a part-time Office Assistant role specially for Molly.
Sean and Niki have made several adjustments to make sure the role meets Molly’s needs. For example, because she can’t drive, Molly initially commuted on the public tram which stopped a few blocks from Kerr’s office. But the tram and other public transportation options are unreliable and unsafe. Plus, Molly has special equipment to help her see her work that’s difficult and risky to commute with. Those concerns drove Sean and Niki to move Molly’s role to fully remote.
They also do things outside of work, like giving her a ride when she needs one. And they’ve done countless one-off favors. But most significantly, they’ve given Molly the flexibility she needs to live a life that isn’t in constant conflict with her disability. She still has many doctor appointments and surgeries that require time off. In most companies, that would cause a lot of tension, and Molly would always have that voice in the back of her mind telling her one day, it’s going to be too much tension. But if you ask Sean and Niki, they’ll say it’s no accommodation at all. “We had no problem creating the position for her.” Sean told me. “We already knew she’s a stand-up, reliable person.”
My thoughts - Lior
Stories like Molly’s are few and far between. Based on how many companies act today, you could easily conclude that business and compassion don’t go together, and that your decisions must be “responsible” above all else. I think that conclusion betrays you in the end.
Put yourself in your own shoes, years from now, when you’re old and retired. When you think back on your career, will you be most proud of your smart, responsible decisions that protected the business? Or of the decisions that benefited someone’s life? Sometimes, the unoptimized decision is the one that leaves a lasting impact.
By stepping up for Molly when she needed it, Kerr Properties did what many companies are too risk-averse to do: put people first. That’s the relationships-first spirit at the core of this industry. I think Sean and Niki will look back and be proud they gave Molly the help she needed. Because of her friends, Molly went from unemployed with no leads to a role that meets her where she’s at. What a gift!
