'This Act of Kindness Is Just Unheard Of'

Bagel shop manager drove nearly 400 miles round-trip to deliver forgotten keys
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 21, 2019 9:49 AM CST
Updated Nov 24, 2019 6:42 AM CST
'This Act of Kindness Is Just Unheard Of'
Bagels 101 manager Vinny Proscia says he'd do it all again.   (Getty Images/cj2a)

Diana Chong left her SUV running as she dashed into a bagel shop in Middle Island, NY, Saturday on her way to a pre-Thanksgiving celebration. It was four hours later, in Pennsylvania, when she realized she'd left her key set on the Long Island shop's counter, including a fob that triggers her vehicle's automatic ignition. With no way to start the SUV and plans to return to work on Monday, "we were calling dealerships, we were calling locksmiths, we were calling AAA," Chong tells CBS New York. She also couldn't find a weekend delivery service, per Newsday. But it was the call to Bagels 101 manager Vinny Proscia that made all the difference. "I said, 'Just send me the address and I will bring them to you,'" Proscia tells CBS. "And she said, 'You're going to drive all the way to [Pennsylvania]?' And I was like, 'Yeah, why not?'"

Proscia made what turned out to be a six-hour, 189-mile journey to Honesdale, Pa., where he was "greeted like a rock star, fed crumble cake and coffee, [and] plied with gift cards," per CBS. Chong tells Newsday she also insisted Proscia accept $200 for gas and tolls, in addition to the family's hearty thanks. "This act of kindness is just unheard of," she tells CBS. Back in Middle Island, customers are also applauding the act Proscia says he'd do again: "It makes you feel better inside." Even a police officer who stopped Proscia for speeding on his return trip—Newsday reports the manager had driven through the night to be back in time for his 5am Sunday shift—was impressed. Seeing the thank you notes from the Chongs, he gave Proscia a warning rather than a $500 ticket, per CBS. (More uplifting news stories.)

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