Smiling faces abounded in Good Day Café on one special night last week. Donors to the café’s sponsoring agency, Strawberry Fields, were attending an open house to mark the 50th year of the organization’s existence.
With folks enjoying each other’s company, reveling in holiday spirit and celebrating the golden anniversary of Strawberry Fields, there was nary an Ebeneezer Scrooge to be found. It was, indeed, a good evening at Good Day.
“This is a great celebration,” said Phil Vollmer, president of the Strawberry Fields board of directors. “We’re blessed to have made it through COVID, that the community has recognized the mission of special needs folks.”
“It’s one of the many events we’ve been able to put together this year,” added Fran McDermid, the agency’s director of mental health. “We’ve made an effort to celebrate our staff and our residents and other people we serve. But everything we do… it can’t be done without our donors, so this is our chance to recognize them.”
And it was also my chance to hang out with people who care so passionately about Strawberry Fields’ mission: enhancing the lives of individuals with developmental delays, intellectual disabilities and/or mental illness. After attending the open house and talking in-depth with the CEO of Strawberry Fields, Cindy Pasquinelli, I gained a deeper appreciation of how the organization began, how it has developed and what challenges it still faces.
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
It was on April 19, 1972 that the paperwork was finalized to create a serious-minded Centre County agency with a wacky name. Strawberry Fields was that group with the Beatle-esque name, formed when a small group of parents (Mamas & Papas?) joined together to establish operations on a farm in Yarnell, slightly north of Milesburg. There they could offer art, music and cooking activities. And there, with a lovely stream flowing through the property, they could provide opportunities for swimming, fishing and creative camping.
Today, the same agency continues to thrive but with a size and scope that would amaze its founders. Now headquartered in a State College office suite, Strawberry Fields operates two retail businesses and serves more than 700 individuals with an annual budget of nearly $10 million and 200-plus employees. However, says Pasquinelli, some things haven’t changed since the organization’s founding.
“I was not here in 1972,” notes the CEO. “But what I know today, 50 years later, is that the people who came together to create Strawberry Fields on that farm had the same desires, needs and wishes that the families have today. Our mission then and now is to create opportunities, provide support and improve the lives of those we serve.”
A GRATEFUL PARENT
George McMurtry is one of those impassioned family members that Cindy Pasquinelli was talking about. I was privileged to talk with him at the open house and to hear why he is so willing to donate time and money to the cause. The owner of America’s Carpet Outlet on North Atherton Street, McMurtry doesn’t need to find a charitable activity to stay busy. But it’s obvious he’s delighted to serve on the Strawberry Fields board.
“One of the things that is a giant tie-in for me personally,” said McMurtry, “is that I’m the parent of a daughter who has special needs. Just four months ago, she got a permanent placement in one of the Strawberry Fields group homes.
“It’s just been incredible to have that opportunity. My daughter is 19 years old. She has two other housemates who have been in that house a number of years. Very simply what it means to me and to our family is that this is a very, very safe environment with opportunities that will literally take her through her entire adult life. It’s just an incredible opportunity for Ann. It is an opportunity to live her life independently, to be able to go out and live on her own and not be under our roof forever.”
A HISTORY OF GROWTH
Knowing how things started in 1972 and how things look today, I wondered about the process of growth and change. And that’s where I turned to Cindy Pasquinelli. A Strawberry Fields employee since 1985 and the executive director since 1987, she listed the agency’s biggest breakthroughs:
- 1978: Strawberry Fields moved from the Yarnell farm to State College and created its first group home
- 1980s: Office opened in State College; residential services for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism were expanded and residential services for adults with mental illness were begun
- 1990s: children’s services were begun with early intervention and children’s case management
- 2015: Scraps & Skeins began as the organization’s first retail store, providing jobs for adults with mental health challenges and offering resale materials for sewing, knitting and quilting
- 2018: Good Day Café opened to sell top-notch coffee and food to the public while producing job opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities or mental health diagnoses.
Although I wasn’t surprised by that ever-expanding list of programs, I couldn’t help wondering about the difficulties caused by such a wide scope. Why does Strawberry Fields feel compelled to work with both children and adults? With people who deal with intellectual disabilities and with those who battle mental illness? With early intervention (ages 0 to 3) services, case management and lifelong residential programs? And why invite the employment challenges and property maintenance headaches that stem from operating so many group homes? (The agency currently runs 15 homes with one temporarily closed, and a 16th will soon be added with the former House of Care property being acquired.)
“Cindy,” I asked, “why are you folks so ambitious? Why are you so available to meet so many kinds of needs?”
“It’s the mission,” said the long-term leader. “It’s why we exist. Strawberry Fields exists to create opportunities for people with disabilities in this community. That’s our job. We have a responsibility to that group of people who need a champion that’s going to support them and help create situations where they can grow and thrive.”
ONE BIG CHALLENGE…
COVID dealt a glancing blow to many local ventures, but for Strawberry Fields it was a major threat. Scraps & Skeins and Good Day Café both struggled with external requirements and internal safeguards, not to mention the reticence of the public to enter either store. Meanwhile, group homes were regarded as high-risk environments, and that meant emotionally vulnerable residents had to endure long periods without family visits. And if all that wasn’t enough, consider the financial tension for a non-profit during the COVID-caused economic slump.
“I’m grateful,” said Pasquinelli in reviewing the past and gauging the future. “Grateful that we made it through COVID. Grateful that we have so much support. Grateful that we’ve had so many staff hang in there through some really, really hard times. And that’s inspiring; it makes us want to start off this second 50 years with a bang.”
Of course, Strawberry Fields leaders have always appreciated the support of Happy Valley folks, but Pasquinelli now speaks from a deeper well of gratitude. “I am so lucky to be running a non-profit in this wonderful community,” she said. “This community cares about each other and this community shows that it cares in every possible way.”
…GIVES WAY TO ANOTHER
So if COVID seems to be receding as a threat to Strawberry Fields, what might be taking its place? You guessed it: a shortage of employees.
“Strawberry Fields, just like every other business that provides service, is feeling the effects of the workforce shortage,” said Pasquinelli. “Our number one priority is recruiting staff; we have all hands on deck.
“During COVID, our early intervention services found a way to operate through Zoom in helping children from birth to age three who were experiencing delay or disability in speech, walking, eating. Now we’re back in-person, but telehealth has continued for our mental health case management. It’s allowing us to serve more people more efficiently, and some people prefer it. So our challenge for 2023 and beyond is to continue to create the best ways to serve our folks as they want to be served.”
SHARING BURDENS AND JOY
Pasquinelli doesn’t carry such burdens alone. Strawberry Fields has a dedicated board of directors and a seasoned leadership team who, together, support the mission every day. And George McMurtry is one who especially understands the supreme value of the agency’s employees.
“It is a labor of love,” McMurtry told me in describing those employees. “Nobody’s doing this to get rich. I’m sorry we can’t offer more money. But that’s the nature of this industry, if you want to call it that. You do it because you care, because you have a sense of something greater than yourself. And Strawberry Fields has done a fabulous job for 50 years of fostering that.
“If I was talking to her right now, Ann would say that she loves it (her group home). She is independent; she’s not under her parents’ roof anymore. She does need help, but she gets a lot of choices and a lot of opportunities, whether it’s the cooking class they go to, the art classes they go to, or whether it’s interactions with her housemates who are much more her peers than her parents would be.
“The thing that’s most touching to me is when, and it is frequent, my daughter says, ‘I love my home, I love my housemates. I love being here.” As a parent, there’s no better reward and no greater sense of satisfaction.”
