It was a night to reflect and remember the life of Dawnn Jaffier, a young woman who was just an innocent bystander killed in what Boston Police believe was a gang feud, but who touched so many people’s lives in such a profound way at just 26 years old.
"She would want us to move forward, she wants us to continue to pay it forward to make sure that we don’t forget what being a community leader means," City Year Boston Executive Director Sandra Lopez Burke said.
Jaffier not only made an impression on her boss at City Year Boston, but on the young people she mentored at the West End House Boys and Girls Club in Brighton.
Elin Dahal went to UMass-Amherst because of Jaffier’s influence.
"Everyone she touched with her warmth and her life and she was so vibrant and full of energy and there was no way you could not smile when you were around Dawnn," he said.
She is described by her closest friends as selfless and caring, and someone who made all of them a better person.
"Dawnn was an amazing, incredible person, and so I have a huge void in my life now that she’s not here – huge void – but from that I’m being motivated to make sure her legacy never dies," Jaffier's friend Bie Aweh said.
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Her family is devastated by her death, wondering what could have been in a life that held so much promise.
"Unfortunately, we won’t see it materialize fully, but I believe that many of you will carry her commitment on," Barnard Jaffier, Dawnn's uncle, said.
