The staff and faculty of Point Park always go the extra mile for students. The university’s business organization, Phi Beta Lambda (PBL), decided to return the favor.

PBL created its most recent event, Pass It On, to show appreciation for the university’s staff and faculty. The organization wanted to relate the event to their values: education, service and progress, according to the chapter’s president, Brandon Rodgers.

“It’s a type of event where the officers of Phi Beta Lambda choose staff and faculty who either work hard, are underappreciated or are just simply glowing people,” freshman sports, art and entertainment management major Kyle Kuhns said.

Community service is a main focus of the organization. The effort was to boost the overall morale of the school, according to the event description on PointSync.

PBL members nominated staff and faculty members, and the nominees were broken down to a list of ten by the organization’s leaders, according to Rodgers.

The list of staff and faculty who received gifts includes Executive Assistant Charlene Cusick, Lawrence Lobby desk attendant Richard Fredrick, janitor Jackie Turner, Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Paylo, Honors Program Director Helen Fallon, Career Counselor Laura Dulaney, Dean of Student Life Michael Gieseke, Mental Health Counselor Theo “Taffie” Bucci, Chief of Police Jeffrey Besong and Director of Career Development Angela Scaramucci, according to PBL member Joseph Tischler.

The event was open to all PBL members, but six members volunteered to deliver the gift.

“We met with the individuals and gave them their gift on behalf of the chapter,” Rodgers said. “We verbalized our appreciation and took pictures.”

The helpers personally delivered gifts to chosen staff and faculty members on Feb. 21-23. The gifts consisted of a PBL cup filled with candy and a bag of chips placed inside a medium sized bag as well as a certificate of appreciation with the staff or faculty member’s name on it, according to Kuhns.

“The staff was super appreciative about receiving the gift,” Kuhns said. “We ourselves got two different emails that were thanking us about choosing them and how much it made them smile.”

The recipients were grateful to the act of kindness from the organization.

“I am very much appreciative of it,” Paylo said. “I feel good about it. They expressed their appreciation for my hard work. What they did with something that isn’t normally done, I hope they understand the impact they have.”

Paylo admitted his hard work ethic is just a characteristic of him.

“The philosophy of student affairs is we don’t do work for recognition,” Paylo said. “It’s our job and it’s our life.”

The small token of appreciation went a long way, according to Paylo.

“I felt really good giving back to people who have made my time here amazing,” Tischler said. “To people like Angela Scarramucci who helped me get my internship, and to see people who probably didn’t feel like people cared… [it] made me feel like even the smallest gestures can mean the most.”