Mustard Seed Village Marks Anniversary with Naming Ceremony

Almost two years after welcoming elders into the first assisted living community on the Key Peninsula, The Mustard Seed Village christened each of its three homes based on suggestions from the people who live in them. Three plaques with three names were unveiled during an open house April 26 by residents with Eric Blegen, chief executive officer of The Mustard Seed Project, the parent organization.

The names of each house, from north to south (or left to right, looking at the building from the street), are Seagull, Sea Otter, and Harbor Seal.

“We wanted something a bit more personal than House 1, House 2, House 3, which is for memory care,” said Maureen Reilly, operations director for TMSP.

“The artist Tim Lancaster did the (name) renditions,” Blegen said. “He uses found metal, and the names are mounted on wood that he got from the family of Jim Davis.” Davis was the founding treasurer and a board president of TMSP, who died in 2023 (See “James Earl Davis,” July 2023).

“I met him just once when he came back to visit, two or three years ago, before we were done, and he was so thrilled that it was actually happening, that we were building it. So, it’s great to have a piece of his life there.”

The Village is three homes in a single long-house across the street from TMSP’s office, called Crandall Center, at 9115 154th Avenue Court NW above Key Center. Each house has 10 private apartments with bathrooms and kitchenettes surrounding large common areas and full kitchens. Nine rooms are reserved for low-income elders.

Each house is full, and there are five names on the waiting list.

“It’s actually 32 residents because we have two married couples in memory care,” Blegen said. There are 29 staff members who act as “universal caregivers” — doing whatever is needed — and a new executive director or “guide” for the Village, Ashlie Azevedo. There are also about 10 regular volunteers. “One of our goals is to increase that over the next year,” Blegen said.

The Village was operated by two succeeding managing companies after it opened in May 2023 until November 2024, when TMSP took over.

“We’re very happy with how it’s shaping up,” Reilly said. “We’re a nonprofit, and so our main effort is for the elders and what’s best for them. With the management companies, they are about profit. Coming at it from those two different angles made much more of a difference than we thought.”

“The biggest challenge was just the vacancy in the building, which was solved when we took over marketing,” Blegen said. “But now that we’ve filled up and have a good waiting list, we’re more focused on just building a good, positive staff culture. And really, this has been the fun part, as we integrate all of the volunteers and programs that we do at The Mustard Seed Project over at the Village.” Blegen has been in charge at TMSP since 2018.

“I think it’ll be sustainable in the community here for many decades, which is where we wanted it to be.”

Blegen said immediate plans include installing raised garden beds in front and a commercial composter on the southern end, followed by privacy trellises, picnic tables, and a gas fire pit.

“Then we’re also gonna be putting in a new path that will complete a paved walking path around the building made up of bricks and pavers, which we will offer as memorials or gifts for people.”

Installation of the raised beds began the first week of May in front of Harbor Seal, the memory care house.

“Harbor Seal I thought was appropriate for memory care because of the Scottish legend about the silkies,” said Reilly, a native of Scotland. The silkies, or selkies, are shapeshifters who live as seals but can change form to interact with people ashore, often to provide aid. “They are people who kind of look from the sea towards the shore and their previous life there, and remembering what they used to have. That kind of thing. I thought it was kind of poignant for memory care.”