NORTHBRIDGE – In her role as volunteer coordinator at the Northbridge Senior Center, Amy Cowen is responsible for bringing Memphis to Northbridge.
It all started three years ago when she brought an Elvis tribute artist to the center as a special activity for the members.
“People loved it,” Cowen said. The audience was so excited that they didn’t eat lunch while he sang. “This year, when I brought him back, we served lunch at noon and had Elvis sing at 12:30 so everyone could enjoy both.”
Cowen, who was nominated by Rep. David Muradian Jr., R-Grafton, as a candidate for the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women’s Class of 2024 Commonwealth Heroines, attributes her successes to her team at the center.
“I work with the volunteers to create the program. It’s a team of wonderful, helpful people,” Cowen said. She has also formed alliances with other community programs and providers, including the local AARP and Alzheimer’s support groups. She praised Muradian for his support of the center.
Cowen, a former early childhood teacher, gave up her job to care for her ailing mother, following the motto “family comes first.” “I couldn’t teach full-time and not be there for her.”
That experience opened her eyes to how much older people need support and help, Cowen said, so instead of returning to education after her mother recovered, she applied for the position at the senior center when it became available.
“I love it,” Cowen said. “I find the work so rewarding.”
Cowen particularly enjoys interacting with the seniors at the center, learning about their lives, their experiences and their willingness to share the knowledge they have acquired.
“I want to create exciting programs for them to participate in at the center,” Cowen said.
In her three years at the center, she has created the popular Elvis Day and organized numerous events large and small, from a Super Bowl party, Cinco de Mayo, a Sock Hop and Disco Fever to other smaller events. She takes her seniors to local schools to interact with students, has them participate in Girl Scout meetings, and organizes events specifically related to senior health and wellness.
“We have established a women’s health panel to focus on the issues facing women in an ageing population,” Cowen said.
Although her superiors liked the Elvis tribute the most, she enjoyed organizing the veterans breakfast the most.
“They had never had a veterans breakfast before,” Cowen said. As a soldier’s wife – her husband served 23 years on active duty – she was determined to establish the tradition at the center. “We honor people who went to war or served their country and helped make us the great nation we are. That’s the most meaningful thing to me.”
In nominating her, Muradian called Cowen “a tremendous asset to the City of Northbridge as the Northbridge Senior Center’s Program and Volunteer Coordinator.”
“This is evident in her daily work with the elderly; she is compassionate, caring, kind and patient, while also being a consummate professional,” Muradian said. “Over the years, she has worked tirelessly with limited resources to ensure that the elderly population in Northbridge has a friendly, warm and welcoming place to call home.”
The experience of being nominated as one of 125 Commonwealth Heroines was enhanced by the fact that she attended the ceremony at State House on 14 June with her daughter Sarah.
“She came with me to the State House. To feel the power of the women in that room that morning was incredible and humbling,” Cowen said, noting that women “are doing amazing work in our Commonwealth and in the world. The older I get and the more women support women, the better things seem to be getting.”
Her personal heroine is her mother, a single mother who raised three girls on her own.
As she looked around the Gardner Auditorium and later as women from across the state gathered on the grand staircase for a group photo, Cowen said she felt like part of a larger team making a difference in the state.
And the best part was, her daughter was there to share it with her.
