Who is Amy Cowen and why was she honored?

Amy Cowen: A Beacon of Hope for Seniors

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 featured activity for members.

“People loved it,” Cowen said. The audience was so excited that they didn’t eat during lunch while he was singing. “This year, when I brought him back, we served lunch at noon and had Elvis sing at 12:30 so they could all enjoy both.”

Cowen, who was nominated by Rep. David Muradian Jr., R-Grafton, as one of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women Commonwealth Heroines Class of 2024, credits her team at the center for her successes.

“I work with the volunteers to create the programming. It’s a team of wonderful, supportive 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.

A former early childhood educator, Cowen left her job to take care of her ailing mother following the adage, “family first.” “I couldn’t stay teaching full time and not be there for her.”

The experience opened her eyes to how much older people needed support and assistance, Cowen said. So instead of returning to the education field when her mother recovered, she applied for the job at the senior center when it became available.

“I love it,” Cowen said. “I find the work so rewarding.”

Cowen particularly likes interacting with the seniors at the center, learning about their lives, their experiences and their willingness to share their acquired knowledge.

“I want to create exciting programs for them to attend at the center,” Cowen said.

In her three years at the center, she has launched the popular Elvis Day and organized numerous events big and small, from a Super Bowl party, Cinco de Mayo, a sock hop and Disco Fever to other smaller gatherings. She takes her seniors into local schools to interact with students, has them attend Girl Scouts meetings and organizes events specific to senior health and wellness.

“We had a women’s health panel to focus on women’s issues in an aging population,” Cowen said.

While her seniors may have liked the Elvis tribute best, her favorite was organizing the veterans breakfast.

“They had never had a veterans breakfast,” Cowen said. As a military spouse herself — her husband spent 23 years on active duty — she was adamant on establishing the tradition at the center. “We are honoring people who went to war, or who served their country and helped make us the great nation we are. That’s the most meaningful for me.”

In nominating Cowen, Muradian called her, “a tremendous asset to the Town of Northbridge as the program and volunteer coordinator of the Northbridge Senior Center.”

“This is quite apparent by her daily work with elders; she is compassionate, caring, kind and patient, all while being a consummate professional,” Muradian said. “Over the years, she has worked tirelessly with limited resources to ensure the older adult population in Northbridge has a friendly, warm and open-hearted place to call home.”

Enhancing the experience of being nominated as one of 125 Commonwealth Heroines was attending the June 14 ceremony at the State House with her daughter, Sarah.

“She came with me to the State House. Feeling the power of the women in that room that morning was incredible and humbling,” Cowen said, noting women “are doing amazing work in the commonwealth and the world. As I get older, and more and more women support women, things are seeming to get better.”

Her personal hero is her mother, a single mom who raised three girls on her own.

Looking around the Gardner Auditorium and later as the women from across the state gathered on the Grand Staircase for a group picture, Cowen said she felt a part of a greater team that was making a difference in the state.

And best of all, her daughter was there to share it with her.

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