Dec 17, 2022 4 min read

Virginia “Jeanne” Allender was a person known to love to give hugs or get a quick prayer chain started for those who may have been in need.

That love she was willing to share was evident in her many years of involvement with Washington Christian Outreach, an organization she began 44 years ago and of which she remained the director throughout the rest of her life.

Allender, 87, died Thursday after battling health issues.

“She was an amazing person,” said Debbie Boardley, Washington Christian Outreach (WCO) assistant director. “She loved the Lord. She was a prayer warrior. You could call her anytime and she would get a prayer chain started. She was a blessing to this place. She was the matriarch, the pillar to this place.”

Allender was a devout Christian, and her life changed on that day more than four decades ago when she was given a bag of used clothing and asked to distribute it to someone in need.

That led to the creation of Washington Christian Outreach, which Allender ran out of her car in those early days. Then the operation moved to the basement of her home, followed by a couple of other places before moving to its current location at 119 Highland Ave. in Washington.

“It was just her nature,” Boardley said of Allender’s generous personality. “She loved to give hugs. She always said there’s healing in hugs.”

Today, Christian Outreach – a nondenominational, all volunteer organization – serves thousands of community members in Washington and the surrounding area.

“My grandmother was someone who put her faith into action,” said James Helicke, Allender’s grandson. “For most of the past four decades, the Outreach was a full-time job for her, but she never received nor asked for any type of salary. She didn’t have much in the way of formal education but managed to build the Outreach into the important community organization it is today. Her soul was filled with love, and many of the thousands of individuals who benefited from the Outreach’s services knew her simply as Momma Jeanne.”

Allender did not complete high school but went on to become an ordained minister. She remained humble about the public recognition she received.

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

She also was named an Observer-Reporter Extraordinary Person in 2020 for her continuing service to the community.

“The Lord says feed the people,” she said at the time. “We’re there to minister love and salvation to God’s people. The bottom line is to lead people to Jesus.”

Diana Irey Vaughan, chair of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, said Allender meant quite a bit to the community.

“Jeanne has been a leader in our community of Christian caring for a very long time,” she said. “She has touched lives beyond what we can count. She has left a tremendous legacy for others to strive for.”

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

“If there was ever a true living angel on earth, it was her,” Darby said. “There was not a person she didn’t love. She always was calm. For a woman to be like that, that’s a woman filled with the love of Jesus. We know she is rejoicing with our Lord in heaven. She’s not only an angel, she’s with them now.”

Allender was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2019, but chemotherapy and radiation eradicated the cancer at the time. Boardley said Allender’s health seemed to decline in recent weeks.

Still, Allender planned to return to the Outreach.

“She said up until a couple of weeks ago, ‘I’m coming back to work,'” Boardley said. “She will be greatly missed. She was greatly loved.”