It’s 5:45 p.m. and Kirtland Stout arrives early at The Commons, just like he does every Tuesday evening. He knows if he shows up late, his audience will leave.

He enters the facility and shakes hands with each of his audience members before proceeding to the piano, where he pounds out a familiar, lively tune: the classic American folk song, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

The song triggers the crowd’s memory and they join in, joyously clapping and singing the lyrics. Stout continues for about an hour, playing several tunes from an era long ago.

It’s time for him to go now, but he plans to come back next week and do it all over again; but by that time, everyone will forget who he is.

For nearly two years, Stout has been playing the piano once a week for residents suffering with dementia and Alzheimer’s at The Commons at Elk Grove, a living facility that offers independent and assisted care for seniors. He recently received the Mayor’s Volunteer Award for the City of Elk Grove for his outstanding community service.

Stout, the Director of Risk Management at Sacramento State, is honored that he was selected for the award, but he doesn’t consider his service to be noteworthy.

“I feel like there are probably thousands of people out there who do a lot of service and aren’t recognized, and somehow, I got recognized,” Stout said. “I’m not going to pretend for a moment that I’m anything real special. I don’t think that I’m better than anyone else.”

Stout may not consider himself to be “special,” but his music is certainly magical. This magical quality is observed through the response of his audience. They remember the lyrics of a song they used to sing as teenagers but can’t remember what happened five minutes ago– a common symptom of Alzheimer’s disease.

Stout tries to bring them back to their “present” era by playing music from their past – mostly folk songs from the 1940s and 50s. Any song beyond the ’50s, they don’t recall.

“If I play something from the ’40s and ’50s, they’ll often recognize it and they’ll sing along,” Stout said. “They just really have fun with songs they recognize and songs they love.”

Stout credits the miraculous, transformative power of music to spark memory. He said music “evokes memories most people didn’t even know they had.”

“Music has the ability to penetrate to the deepest parts of our brain, our thinking, our soul,” Stout said. “Music goes in differently than something written goes in, and it comes out differently.”

Music isn’t the only way Stout has been giving back to his community. He volunteers regularly at his church and with the University Transportation and Parking Services (UTAPS). He even participated in the March of Dimes fundraiser, for which he raised over $600 through tips he gathered while playing the piano. Stout estimates a total of 20,000 hours of community service during his lifetime.

Stout stresses the importance of serving to his fellow staff members on campus, including Risk Management Analyst Janie Xiong. After working closely with Stout for four years, she has learned there are other ways of giving back besides financial contributions.

“You don’t need money to help. He’s not made of money, but he has the time to help,” Xiong said. “Seeing that from him makes me realize I could do a lot more than I’m already doing.”

Stout often encourages students and youth to serve as well. Stout said everyone has an obligation to “help each other out.”

“You need to get beyond yourself and get out there and find a place that needs your talent, needs your time,” Stout said. “It may be something that’s seen and recognized, and it may be something that’s never seen and never recognized. But in either case, if the community needs you, get out there and do something.”

Stout feels fortunate he is able to use his gift to bring joy to others, even if its just for an hour. They may forget him each week, but Stout is determined not to forget them.

“They are the most forgotten part of society,” Stout said, referring to people with Alzheimer’s. “That’s part of why I go in, because I don’t want to forget the most forgotten people.”