Posted by By Kaitlin Keane October 9, 2026 on Oct 14th 2026

Chester community rallies around Meals on Wheels volunteer after heart attack, raising $38K

In just a few days, a GoFundMe page has raised over $38,000 to support a longtime Meals on Wheels volunteer and Chester gallery owner who recently suffered a massive heart attack.

“As all of who know Nancy Pinney know, she is the most altruistic, generous and deeply kind person you could ever meet,” the online fundraiser states. “Her tireless work in the Connecticut River Valley delivering Meals on Wheels and developing relationships to the housebound members of our community, and organizing a really special Christmas delivery every year making sure everyone feels they have somebody looking out for them. Now it’s our turn to look out for Nancy.”

Yet Pinney’s outreach extends far beyond her volunteer work, according to Moya Aiken, who organized the GoFundMe page. A local contemporary artist, Pinney owns Chester Gallery in Chester and champions multiple artists, according to Aiken.

“Independently on Christmas Day, she makes sure every one of the people has a meal, a card and a present,” Aiken said. “She gets the food and the fire department in Old Saybrook donates the kitchen to help, and we go off to deliver meals. She help so many people in so many ways. It’s not exclusively Meals on Wheels — it’s all the other things she does in the community.”

Aiken said Pinney also organizes a gathering on the first Friday of every month to showcase different artists. It was during last Friday’s gathering that Pinney collapsed from a heart attack, Aiken said.

“Fortunately, there was a nurse present and she administered compressions, and there was somebody else there from Otto, the restaurant, who called 911,” Aiken said. “They took her to Middlesex, and then transferred her to the cardiac unit in Hartford.”

Aiken said she learned from Pinney’s son that Pinney had “died for 12 minutes” as a result of her heart attack. Together with her son, Aiken began working on a GoFundMe page to support Pinney.

As of Thursday afternoon, the GoFundMe page has raised over $38,000 through 236 donors.

“We initially set the goal at $8,000, and I was like, ‘I hope we can make it,’ and then GoFundMe increased it,” Aiken said. “I’m surprised, but I’m not surprised because she’s such a wonderful person and she’s such a giving person and she does struggle … but she’s always, always, always helping people. She is just relentless in helping people.”

Aiken said she spoke to Pinney on Thursday morning, and that Pinney is home with her son taking care of her. Pinney said she sustained broken ribs from the chest compressions and learned she had an artery that was completely blocked.

“It’s a big wake-up call because the kind of heart attack she had is called a widow maker,” Aiken said.