Jubilee Housing provides deeply affordable homes and a comprehensive range of services to a diverse community of about 500 residents. With four more properties providing an additional 120 units primed for development, this community is rapidly expanding. This is important because the community drives all that Jubilee does. This community-centric mission makes Jubilee truly unique, however, it is the extraordinary people who comprise it that have come to define it.

One such resident is Clara Velazquez (affectionately known as Ms. Clara), a native of Colombia who has been a Jubilee resident for 39 years. She worked in childcare as a nanny for 27 years, helping to raise three children who have gone on to very successful professional lives as a doctor, a lawyer, and a computer programmer. Having been retired for almost a decade, she still remains close with the now-adult children she helped shape and support.

Despite being retired, Ms. Clara has not stopped working. If anything, she has taken on an even larger role. About eight years ago, she began volunteering for Jubilee’s Early Start program. From preparing after-school snacks and dinners to leading activities, Ms. Clara keeps plenty busy during these afternoons.

Ms. Clara’s volunteer work with Early Start is just one part of all that she does for the Jubilee community. Whether she is checking on her neighbors, taking out people’s trash, or assisting disabled residents, she always seems to be lending a helping hand. She does not want to be perceived as unable to help due to her age, small stature, or gender. Above all else, Ms. Clara just wants to make sure that her neighbors are taken care of and that anyone she comes across has all that they may need.

It is hard to find someone at Jubilee who does not have a heartwarming story about Ms. Clara. Her generous and friendly demeanor is apparent everywhere she goes. No one can attest to how much she means to the Jubilee Housing community quite like Jorge Torres, a Jubilee maintenance worker and another extremely familiar face in the community, who has worked here for 15 years and has known Ms. Clara for 12 of them.

Mr. Torres explains that, “Ms. Clara does not care if someone is a tenant or an employee of Jubilee Housing, anything they need they can call her.” He elaborated by saying, “she will bring things to the elderly or disabled. She will make birthday cakes for neighbors and soup for the sick. On cold days she will bring hot chocolate or coffee and on those hot summer days sandwiches, bananas, or water.”

Ms. Clara says that she appreciates Jubilee because they help everybody regardless of their situation. She explains, “they care about people in the building, providing supplies and programs for children.” Undoubtedly, this ethos is one that is shared by Jubilee and Ms. Clara herself. In addition to working with Early Start and helping her neighbors, she is a monthly donor.

Ms. Clara thinks of the Jubilee community as her family and treats it as such. She does things out of the kindness of her heart and her actions speak to this sentiment. Residents and employees alike appreciate her dedication. It only seemed right to share Ms. Clara’s story with everyone not only to show appreciation, but also to inspire.