Farewells are never easy. At least not for me. There’s this propensity to think that the people in your life, be personally or professionally, will somehow be in your life forever when in truth they’re like a rotating cast of a television series. I was struck by that when I heard a few months ago that Sally Dunford, the executive director of West Bronx Housing, was retiring after 28 years of service leading the agency.

Running a nonprofit with the kind of demand needed for such a service—the group helps with landlord-tenant disputes, Section 8, SCRIE/DRIE applications, and navigating the bureaucratic maze that’s Bronx Housing Court—is not easy work. That burden is compounded when a service works with a handful of full-time employees and volunteers generous enough to lend their time. At an event on Jan. 12 over at Vladeck Hall, Brad Silver, executive vice president of Bronx Jewish Community Council, where West Bronx Housing serves as its subsidiary group, said it best when describing Sally’s commitment to the work. She wasn’t looking for credit toward herself but the organization.

It’s truly hard to quantify the amount of commitment, especially as it translates to the countless people that Sally has helped over the years.

What made Sally understand the plight of fellow tenants was her own ability to step into the shoes of clients struggling to maintain a quality of life in their home, a place intended to put you at your most comfortable. In 1989, Sally and her family were temporarily displaced after her landlord decided to make an example out of her for speaking up on behalf of her family, urging for repairs. The heartache of seeing her family thrown for a loop appeared etched in her memory. She wouldn’t want to see that happen to anyone else. It seems to be a motivating factor for why she helped a cluster of tenants at a four-family home at 243 E. 204th St. in 2016. The family had faced a takeover of the building from Peter Fine, a Brooklyn-based developer who, through various limited liability corporations, begun swallowing up several homes in the Bedford Park area. Hearing their tales of inconvenience, Sally took on the fight, staving off eviction proceedings for everyone in that building. Sadly, the building went up in flames during the proceedings, but it demonstrated Sally’s all-in approach.

There were also her inklings into the state Department of Homes & Community Renewal over whether the agency is properly tracking rent rolls for thousands of tenants. Sally warned residents to be mindful of how much they’re paying since a landlord could simply be making up a rent amount it reports to the state. That incident had put her in touch with her successor, Joshua Stephenson, the now current executive director of West Bronx Housing, whom Dunford describes as a dynamo. Joshua had at one point served as constituent services director for Councilman Andrew Cohen.

With an endorsement coming from Sally, my guess is the agency picked the right person to lead this critically vital organization for Bedford Park.

Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how important Sally was to the creation of the Norwood News. She was among those who understood the power of a newspaper in forming community, telling founder Dart Westphal the benefits of centralizing information by various agencies to help keep the community informed. It’s a major reason why we honored Sally at our 30th anniversary celebration in November 2018.

So, with a heavy heart, I bid Sally a happy retirement. She’s leaving us for Maryland to live closer to her family, and we hope she can rest and finally look back at the life she lived here in the Bronx. Happy retirement, Sally.

David Cruz is editor of the Norwood News.