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Lauren Lawrence, a customer service rep at Atlantic Boca Raton (BCT), has loved animals since she was little when she got her first cat. Since then, she's owned a menagerie of animals, including her current brood of four dogs and three cats. She understands how important pets are to their owners and how deeply they feel the loss when one passes away.

"They teach us so much about a better way to be in life," Lauren says. They are trusting and loving and unassuming.

Lauren is also a stellar customer service rep. She knows her customers and she knows when something is wrong. So when Dr. Z, a regular BCT customer, was carrying a photo of his beloved dog Joey and looking distraught, she stepped in. "He's here all the time and always talked about Joey," she says. When he told Lauren that Joey had died, she felt moved to doing something for him.

"I know what that loss is like and I wanted to do something," she said.

She found an engraved memorial rock that she thought would be perfect for Dr. Z and took the idea to her customer service manager Azra Thomas. Azra loved it too. She and Lauren approached their general manager with the idea.

Lauren and other Atlantic staff presented the memorial stone to Dr. Z along with a signed card. It meant the world to him.

"He was very thankful for the compassion," the GM said, "and told all his pilot buddies. It forever left an impression."

"He loved us before and now he loves us even more," says Lauren.

Her empathy and kindness for Dr. Z has earned Lauren the Employee of the Year Award.