Board fellow serves seniors throughout COVID-19 pandemic

Lin Cheng, MBA 2021, serves as an Olin/United Way Board Fellow for Senior Services Plus.

She wrote this reflection on the experience for the Olin Blog.

It has been quite an experience serving as a board member for Senior Services Plus as part of the Olin/United Way Board Fellows Program. The nonprofit world has always intrigued me, and I’m honored to serve as a board member for 2020. 

Back in February when I attended my first board meeting at SSP, it was the peak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, my hometown. I was greeted with a warm welcome and was impressed by the compassion of people in the agency. 

Since then, the pandemic has spread worldwide and our board meetings switched to online, but the good work at SSP has continued. 

The agency remains open and has even expanded its coverage to serve additional seniors in need, delivering thousands of meals to seniors every day. The spirit of the agency staff inspired me to serve the community as well.  

Lin Cheng

Last week, my friends at Olin and I had the pleasure to volunteer at SSP. We applied the operation knowledge we had learned in the classroom to form an assembly line and packed 600 bags of food to be distributed. 

Broadly, I am working with SSP to build smart/affordable homes for seniors to live independently. Day by day, I am more convinced of the indispensable force of non-profit in a well-functioning society. Most importantly, I am grateful to have the opportunity to be involved and serve the community.

Pictured above: Hung Le, MBA 2021, Naotake Akaiwa, MBA 2021, Lin Cheng, MBA 2021, and Pralabh Garg, MBA 2021, volunteer at Senior Services Plus.