Eileen Jennings has been named the 2021 Citizen of the Year by the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce. Photo Courtesy of Eileen Jennings
Eileen Jennings poses with her family for a photo. “It was truly a shock, but it's a huge honor,” Jennings says. Photo Courtesy of Eileen Jennings
The
Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce has recognized Eileen Jennings as the 2021 Citizen of the Year presenting her with the Chamber’s highest award given to exemplary citizens of Mt. Pleasant who have demonstrated leadership and are active in their communities.
“I'm so appreciative of the people who have said thank you for what you're doing for the community,” Jennings says. “It kind of reinforces my continued commitment to work on whatever I can to help out.”
Jennings moved from Lincoln, Nebraska to Mt. Pleasant in 1980 after completing law school at the University of Nebraska. She has been a retired attorney for 29 years now and says that in previous communities she hadn’t ever been as involved as she is now in Mt. Pleasant.
Two of the first organizations Jennings became involved in were the Zonta Club of Mount Pleasant and the Rotary Club of Mt. Pleasant of which she was one of the first women to join.
Outside of retirement, she continues to be an actively engaged member of the community. She is a member of the Faith Weavers and has served in a volunteer capacity for several organizations including the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation, Christmas Outreach of Isabella County, Friends of Isabella Seniors, Central Michigan Community Hospital, and the United Way of Gratiot and Isabella Counties.
Jennings says she was nominated for the 2021 Citizen of the Year award by a fellow Rotary Club member.
“You just don't know the impact you're having on other people, the things you do that you don't think make much difference sometimes come back and you find out that they make a big difference,” Jennings says. “Other things where you think you're making a big difference, maybe you're not. We're not very good judges of ourselves on how impactful we are in certain areas.”
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Zipporah Abarca is dedicated to her passion of writing for the public; offering people a platform to share their stories and promote small businesses. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in project management at Central Michigan University where she is also a reporter for CM Life. See more of her work at
cm-life.com/staff/zipporah_abarca.