Hillary Girls: Clinton's Westchester sisterhood Ever since her move to Chappaqua, Clinton has forged a sisterhood of sorts with a cadre of local women. Some call themselves the “Hillary Girls.”

Even as Hillary Clinton was preparing to make a speech calling on Congress to authorize military action against ISIS in the wake of the Paris attacks, she worried about a friend in Scarsdale.

The friend was slated to undergo surgery, and Clinton had not received any status updates.

“She tracked me down in the middle of her busy day,” Geri Shapiro, Clinton’s former regional director for Westchester, told me. Shapiro filled Clinton in: The friend’s surgery had been rescheduled.

“That’s who she is. She cares about what’s happening with people she knows,” Shapiro said.

Ever since her move to Chappaqua following her tenure as first lady, Clinton has forged a sisterhood of sorts with a cadre of local women. Some call themselves the “Hillary Girls”— many are former volunteers from her days as New York senator.

The first time I met Hillary Clinton was in 2006, at a fundraiser for the Chappaqua School Foundation. As soon as she walked in the room at Crabtree’s Kittle House restaurant, an eager crowd surrounded her. She gamely shook hands and posed for pictures with parents and teachers before proceeding to make a speech.

The then-senator from New York spoke eloquently about the importance of education. I don’t recall specifics (I wasn’t attending as a reporter, but as a new parent in the district) but remember being somewhat surprised by her likability when the cameras were not rolling. She did not sound practiced or rehearsed as she often did on television.

To her detractors, Clinton is a polarizing figure, coming off as cold, calculating and insincere. She can seem guarded and wary.

But in multiple interviews with women who’ve gotten to know the Democratic presidential candidate over the years as a local resident, a common theme emerged: She loves to know your story, she cares about the individual, she has a great sense of humor and she loves girl-talk.

She’ll often joke about her hair or the fact that she insists on singing to Charlotte, her 1-year-old granddaughter, even though she’s a terrible singer.

The women meet for brunch around the holidays – in recent years the group has grown to include spouses. Former President Bill Clinton is a regular attendee.

They send her an orchid on her birthday each year. She’s attended their children’s bar and bat mitzvahs, celebrated their milestone birthday parties and called them when they were sick.

The fact that the Clintons have made a concerted effort to be part of the community is no secret. They’ve marched in almost all of the town’s Memorial Day parades since their move to Chappaqua, sworn in Town Board members, lent their support to numerous local nonprofits. It seems almost everyone in Chappaqua has their favorite Clinton story.

While critics may quickly dismiss Hillary Clinton's popularity in Chappaqua and other wealthy, educated and heavily Democratic towns in Westchester as playing to her base, a fierce loyalty has taken hold among people who have had the opportunity of having more than just bumped into the candidate.

Nancy Intrator, a former Chappaqua resident who now lives in New York City, said when she started volunteering for the former senator, she was going through a tough divorce.

One summer day in 2003, while she was volunteering at the New York State Senate office, Clinton came in to meet with the interns. Soon the lights went out. It was the blackout of 2003 and train service was interrupted.

Before she knew it, Intrator was getting in the car with Clinton, who cleared the seat next to her. After dialing into a couple of radio shows for interviews, Clinton asked her what was going on in her life.

“I was going through a horrible time and she had all her attention on me. We chatted all the way up. She was incredibly kind and warm,” Intrator said.

Clinton took a special interest in her after that day, even calling her to wish her on her birthday. A few years later, she showed up to Intrator's daughter’s bat mitzvah at the Mount Kisco Holiday Inn.

“For me it was great because my soon-to-be ex-husband and his family were all there. And it was like, I knew Hillary Clinton. It meant so much to me that she took time out of her personal time. It was a Saturday night. The fact that she would do that for me, meant the world to me.”

Carol Evans, a longtime Chappaqua resident and president emeritus of Working Mother Media, first met Clinton when they served on a panel titled “Wise Wonderful Women of Westchester,” organized by Temple Beth El in Chappaqua.

“She remembered something that every single person said and she hadn’t taken any notes,” Evans, who co-chairs a group called Executive Women for Hillary, recalled. “She said something significant, almost quoting what each of us had said. I was blown away.”

Chappaqua resident Grace Bennett, publisher and editor of Inside Chappaqua magazine, joined the press corps in the summer of 2012 to travel on then-Secretary Clinton’s mission to Africa.

The fact that Clinton would give such an opportunity to her hometown magazine shows how much she values being part of the community, Bennett said.

For Shapiro, who now serves as a senior adviser to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Clinton was responsible for her second act.

Clinton hired then 58-year-old Shapiro as regional director for Westchester when she was elected senator. Shapiro was a stay-at-home mom whose experience was limited to serving as a PTA president and volunteering for the Clinton campaign. Shapiro says she’s surprised to this day about being picked, given all the talent Clinton had access to.

“She empowers women," Shapiro said. "Besides my mother’s voice, I always hear Hillary’s voice in my ear. She’s sensible and she’s resilient."

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is an engagement editor for The Journal News/lohud.com and a member of the Editorial Board.​

Twitter: @SwapnaVenugopal