A strange decision to dress a man as a senior woman has cost the executive director of a senior centre in Cranston, Rhode Island, her job.
It all started with the Cranston Senior Centre rolling out a “Snow Angel” program in which teens can help senior citizens by shoveling snow.
The formal introduction to the program came in front of the assembled media and included the city’s mayor, Allan Fung, some teenage kids shoveling snow and someone who appeared to be an elderly lady.
The elderly lady as it turned out was the senior centre’s driver, David Roberts, and for some unknown reason he was asked to dress up as an elderly woman complete with wig, glasses, lipstick, earrings and a nametag that read “Cranston Senior Home resident.”
Cranston’s Mayor Allen Fung is said to have had no idea the elderly woman was actually a fake.
One resident from the senior centre said “I think it’s terrible. In every way.”
Another said “there’s so many elderly here why do they have to pick him?”
Video and pictures of the fake woman went viral and Stenhouse is no longer employed by the senior centre. The City of Cranston says she resigned in wake of the incident.
Stenhouse refused to speak about the dress-up decision when reached by NBC News at her home.
Purported friends of Stenhouse have come out on social media defending her.
One post read “For those who know Sue, she has never created a bizarre stunt to try to look good for the media. Everything she does is based on her willingness to reach out and help someone in the community.”
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