The Key Senior Information Center is only one tangible step out of many others organizer Edie Morgan hopes to see in the future. For more than a year, Morgan has been spearheading a grass-roots effort with the goal of creating what she envisions as an elder-friendly community where local residents can age in place. Called the Mustard Seed Project, late in June her effort received a financial boost from the national organization Catholic Health Initiatives. The $83,340 grant will provide funding for two years, allowing Morgan to focus her own efforts on it as well as hire help.

For nearly an entire year, armed with a vision and with the help of a group of committed community members, Morgan has volunteered her time to conduct a needs survey, form work groups, research information and develop ideas. She has been approaching organizations for funding and support. Last November, she got the first good news: Franciscan Health Services, which is building a hospital in Gig Harbor, was interested in her work. The Franciscan Foundation became a fiscal sponsor, allowing Morgan to pursue grants. Franciscan also granted her $10,000, allowing her to continue the efforts. Locally, the nonprofit group Angel Guild had also given The Mustard Seed Project funding, keeping it afloat.

The $83,340 grant “was a realization the door had swung open,” Morgan said.

Morgan, who has a background in geriatric social services, was previously the manager of the Vaughn-based Children’s Home Society/Key Peninsula Family Resources Center, which focuses on families with children. After leaving her job for what she called a sabbatical, the idea of an elder-friendly community began to brew. With the help of local physician Dr. William Rose and friend Rochelle Doan (who has since moved to Kitsap from the Key Peninsula and became the program director for the newly created Kitsap County Behavioral Health Alliance), Morgan created a steering committee. Doan had previously been involved with similar efforts on Bainbridge Island, and the group has used the island’s model for some of its work.

Aging in place has become a buzzword that has created a paradigm shift in how people view their golden years, with new services and technologies being created to grow an industry some experts predict will see exploding growth once more Baby Boomers reach retirement age. A Baby Boomer, Morgan saw herself as a prime example — she wants to remain in her community as she grows older. Having had worked with frail elderly clients in long-term care settings, Morgan saw a clear loss to the fabric of the community that has its elders leaving for senior facilities located elsewhere.

On the Key Peninsula, by the year 2020 as much as a third of the local population could reach age 65 or above. Morgan said the statistics she has seen support a smaller scale program, but she doesn’t intend to compete with other local efforts, or with outside resources available locally. Instead, she wants to create a clearinghouse that accurately identifies available resources, and has a way of sharing that with the public. The senior information center is a strong step in that direction, and eventually Morgan plans to initiate the publishing of a local directory as well.

The grant now allows not only Morgan to stop looking for a job and focus on The Mustard Seed Project, but it will also allow her to hire a part-timer who can assist with such future efforts. The grant was provided by the Mission and Ministry Fund of Catholic Health Initiatives, with which Franciscan is affiliated. Morgan’s organization is the first outreach project of St. Anthony Hospital that recently broke ground in Gig Harbor.

“CHI and the Franciscan organization share a mission to create healthier communities. Supporting the Mustard Seed Project and other community-based programs helps to advance the CHI and Franciscan mission of service and healing,” Franciscan Health Systems said in a press release.

Morgan said the project has been moving at a faster pace than she anticipated, which only underscores the interest and the need. Now, the Mustard Seed is a registered charity, and organizers are looking to incorporate it and seek nonprofit status.

“A lot of people are affected by the issue of aging in place, whether you are a senior, or an adult child of a senior,” she said. “People are very responsive.”

In addition to the senior information and referral committee, other groups have been looking at the issues of transportation, housing, and health and wellness. Morgan says the idea is to work together with other groups and agencies to create programs and services, or awareness of programs. Her long-term goal is to see an adult living home, and she believes Key Center is an ideal location. The challenge is infrastructure, because county codes may not allow for septic systems for the size of facility needed. Nonetheless, Morgan plans to keep the idea in the bag, and she’s bringing in experts for a workshop on how to open an adult living facility. She has also been in discussions with the Coming Home Program that provides affordable assisted living.

Morgan’s ideas continue to develop, and she sees a lot of opportunities for The Mustard Seed Project. By fall, she’d like to organize a caregiver recruitment fair, and later a volunteer network where people who seeking help with things such as medical transportation could be connected with volunteers willing to provide for those needs.

“There are endless opportunities,” she said. “There are so many facets to an elder-friendly community.”

About 30 people have been actively involved with the various committees, and some of them are retired nurses, social workers and other health care professionals, which Morgan feels brings a new level of possibilities. “That part is exciting for me because it makes even more work possible,” she said.

When Morgan first started, backed by a very small group of community members, she called her nascent project The Mustard Seed after a Biblical parable that talks about a small mustard seed growing into a tree used by birds, which nested in the branches. Morgan had hoped that just like that mustard seed, her project would grow and bloom. In just a little over a year, her vision has certainly unfolded far beyond a seed.