My mother has been loving her neighbors as herself for as long as I can remember. We used to take a home-baked coffeecake to greet every new neighbor on the block. She paid a visit to every friend who was hospitalized or bereaved. She dedicated herself to the queen of all volunteer jobs: motherhood, and my childhood home was a wonderland of toys and books and answers to every question from a curious child’s mind. But we three offspring grew up, and Mom, a member of Towson Presbyterian Church, began volunteering in the late 1970s for Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland, which was run out of the church kitchen at that time. We all soon learned that Mom’s Fridays were exclusively reserved for packing and delivering meals to homebound seniors along her Towson route. As time went on, Mom served Meals on Wheels in other capacities, including organizing volunteer gatherings, serving as Council of Site Representative, and eventually putting in years on the Board of Directors. She received the Beatrice Strouse award in 2003, but she always continued her Friday meal delivery run.
In 2001, we were amused when Mom was featured in a Baltimore Sun article headlined, “Elderly volunteers a concern for agency.” The article began with “Nancy Allchin warily eyes the stone steps to the modest Towson rowhouse. There are more than a dozen of them, steep, and her balance at age 77 is not what it used to be. Still, Allchin gamely tackles the steps, hoisting two trays she brings every Friday as a Meals on Wheels volunteer.” But Mom did not consider herself elderly and continued the Friday run until 2008, when her eyesight forced her to give up driving. That year, at age 84, Mom was recognized for 30 years of service with Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland.
She passed away peacefully from natural causes on Saturday, February 10, 2024 at the age of 99. Until recently Mom lived at the Broadmead Retirement Community in Hunt Valley, where she had continued her lifelong passion of giving to others through service to resident programs that represent her lifelong dedication to education, to the environment, to democratic processes, and to helping those in need. Well into her 99th year on the planet, she continued to support these causes through charitable giving.
Written by Daughter, Joy Allchin