Allender, 87, died Thursday after battling well being points.

“She was an incredible particular person,” mentioned Debbie Boardley, Washington Christian Outreach (WCO) assistant director. “She beloved the Lord. She was a prayer warrior. You might name her anytime and he or she would get a prayer chain began. She was a blessing to this place. She was the matriarch, the pillar to this place.”

Allender was a religious Christian, and her life modified on that day greater than 4 many years in the past when she was given a bag of used clothes and requested to distribute it to somebody in want.

That led to the creation of Washington Christian Outreach, which Allender ran out of her automobile in these early days. Then the operation moved to the basement of her residence, adopted by a few different locations earlier than shifting to its present location at 119 Highland Ave. in Washington.

“It was simply her nature,” Boardley mentioned of Allender’s beneficiant persona. “She beloved to offer hugs. She at all times mentioned there’s therapeutic in hugs.”

In the present day, Christian Outreach – a nondenominational, all volunteer group – serves hundreds of neighborhood members in Washington and the encompassing space.

“My grandmother was somebody who put her religion into motion,” mentioned James Helicke, Allender’s grandson. “For a lot of the previous 4 many years, the Outreach was a full-time job for her, however she by no means acquired nor requested for any sort of wage. She didn’t have a lot in the way in which of formal schooling however managed to construct the Outreach into the essential neighborhood group it’s right now. Her soul was crammed with love, and most of the hundreds of people who benefited from the Outreach’s companies knew her merely as Momma Jeanne.”

Allender didn’t full highschool however went on to change into an ordained minister. She remained humble concerning the public recognition she acquired.

That recognition included the NAACP Human Rights Award, the Pennsylvania Affiliation for Volunteerism Distinguished Service Award, the Louis E. Waller Humanitarian Award and the Clara L. Deems Neighbor of the Yr award.

She additionally was named an Observer-Reporter Extraordinary Individual in 2020 for her persevering with service to the neighborhood.

“The Lord says feed the folks,” she mentioned on the time. “We’re there to minister love and salvation to God’s folks. The underside line is to guide folks to Jesus.”

Diana Irey Vaughan, chair of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, mentioned Allender meant fairly a bit to the neighborhood.

“Jeanne has been a frontrunner in our neighborhood of Christian caring for a really very long time,” she mentioned. “She has touched lives past what we are able to rely. She has left an incredible legacy for others to try for.”

Dianna Darby of Washington, who, alongside along with her husband, Anthony, volunteered at Christian Outreach, described Allender as an “angel.”

“If there was ever a real residing angel on earth, it was her,” Darby mentioned. “There was not an individual she didn’t love. She at all times was calm. For a lady to be like that, that’s a lady crammed with the love of Jesus. We all know she is rejoicing with our Lord in heaven. She’s not solely an angel, she’s with them now.”

Allender was identified with an aggressive type of most cancers in 2019, however chemotherapy and radiation eradicated the most cancers on the time. Boardley mentioned Allender’s well being appeared to say no in latest weeks.

Nonetheless, Allender deliberate to return to the Outreach.

“She mentioned up till a few weeks in the past, ‘I’m coming again to work,’” Boardley mentioned. “She can be drastically missed. She was drastically beloved.”