The West Roxbury/Roslindale Rotary, and the general West Roxbury community, honored Rose’s Bounty Volunteer Judy Jose-Roddy on Friday with the Paul Harris Fellow Recognition.

The dinner and fundraiser helped, in part, to raise funds for Jose-Roddy’s favorite charity, the Free Wheelchair Mission – https://www.freewheelchairmission.org – which works to bring wheelchairs to those in need around the world. The idea is that it only takes $96 to give someone mobility, and there are so many in need across every continent.

Jose-Roddy said she was humbled by the award.

“I feel a little undeserving,” she said. “There are so many people here who have done so many wonderful things.”

She said however that she was still very thankful.

“West Roxbury has been very, very good to me,” she said. “It’s wonderful but I feel like we should be honoring so many other people here, not just me.”

Jose-Roddy said she came to West Roxbury in 1977 and helped to open the first community residence for developmentally disabled kids as the institutional model was dismantled.

“That was really some wonderful people and I worked in that field for a very long time, and then later on I got into services for seniors,” she said. “I got to help to build the first independent living for moderate income seniors with another group of amazing people. More recently, I’ve been working here at Rose’s Bounty, and there are some of my former clients from Sophia Snow here.”

Jose-Roddy said she was grateful to everyone who came out.

“I want to thank everybody for coming and thank them for all they’ve done for our West Roxbury,” she said. “It’s an incredible honor, and thank you West Roxbury, thank you to all these people. It’s been a great time for me here.”

Rotary President Raymond Fitzgerald sang a bit higher praise of Jose-Roddy than herself.

“She’s passionate, very involved,” he said. “If she’s not here, she’s out doing something important. She’s a lovely person and an amazing volunteer.”

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Fitzgerald said he found out about the Free Wheelchair Mission from Jose-Roddy, and said it was a simple solution that he felt the Rotary could get behind.

“It’s a very easy idea,” he said. “I mean, for under a hundred bucks people get a wheelchair. It’s great. So many people around the world need them, and it’s a really big deal. And it’s just the basics, and it’s kind of connected to Rotary too, because one of our missions is to eradicate polio. If somebody’s got polio, it’s likely they aren’t walking around. Stuff like this is very helpful.”

Stratford Street Church Pastor Abby Henrich said Jose-Roddy was instrumental for her to get to know the neighborhood when she came to West Roxbury.

“I’ve known Judy since I started the pastorate here, so nine years, and she is warm, she’s engaged, and she exemplifies what it means to be a neighbor,” she said.

Residents Mike Schofield and Becky Andreasson said they came out to support their friend, with Andreasson coming out all the way from Bar Harbor, Maine.

“Judy has been a friend for 40 years, and a friend of my family for longer than that,” said Schofield, “Judy’s a special person to us. It’s nice she does wonderful things, but she’s even nicer than that! And this is a very nice celebration.”

“I think that Judy is part of the reason why my daughters are so well adjusted,” said Andreasson. “She was their daycare provider when they were younger, and she’s a friend. I came all the way from downeast Maine to be here tonight.”

For more information on the West Roxbury Roslindale Rotary, go to https://www.westroxburyclub.org