For the past five years, Francesca Muñoz made her home at Hebrew Health Care (HHC) in West Hartford. But it was the past year that really made all the difference in Munoz’ life – that was the year she met the four young women she would soon come to lovingly call “My Girls.”

Indeed, Sadie Margolis, Liz Drazen, Abby Azia and Jessie Zweifler – all students at King Phillip Middle School in West Hartford – felt the same way about Muñoz.

“Every Wednesday when the bell rang, I would be excited that I would get to go see Francesca,” says Zweifler of the girls’ weekly visits to Munoz as HHC youth volunteers.

Azia agrees. “The first time I met her I knew that she’d be someone I went to see every week but I didn’t know that I would love her as much as I did,” she says.

What impressed the girls most was the cheerful woman’s upbeat attitude. And her offbeat sense of humor.

“Being with Francesca always made me happier as a person,” recalls Drazen. “She always told me funny things – like to cut my hair because if I didn’t it would be short forever!”

On August 10, 2015, Munoz passed away. But the memory of the feisty, funny woman who came to this country years before from her native Puerto Rico lives on in the hearts of the four young women who signed on as volunteers to enrich the lives of others…and ended up having their own lives immeasurably enriched as well.

In appreciation of the girls’ special bond with Francesca Muñoz, after her passing her daughter gave each each one a small pendant that had belonged to her mother.

“She made me feel so welcomed when I started volunteering,” says Margolis wistfully. “She was like a grandma to me.”

CAP: Francesca Muñoz with “her girls” during one of their Wednesday visits. (L to r) Liv Drazen, Sadie Margolis, Abby Azia and Jessie Zweifler.