JENNY YOUNG

Elder Services

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Jenny Young always promised herself that when she retired, she would volunteer with Sister Joyce McMullen at ABCD Partner Project Care and Concern as a way to give back to the neighborhood. 

She had always been too busy: she raised three children and worked all her life, starting as a dishwasher and getting promoted over the years until she became food service manager – a position she held for 20 years. When her husband Daniel became ill in 2014, she retired to take care of him. He passed just six weeks later – days after their 46th wedding anniversary, and in 2015, Jenny made good on her promise to work alongside Sister Joyce. 

The longtime Dorchester resident recalls that, when her children were young, all the kids would come by to eat. And to talk. Eating together was all about community – and that is still the case with the elders at Harbor Point. “Just to see their faces light up when they come downstairs” to pick up their order – or when she and the other volunteers deliver food to the folks who have mobility issues – “they just want to say hello, and I give them a hug,” she said.