The Mustard Seed Project Receives Its First National Award

This is absolutely the most significant award the Mustard Seed has ever received, and I give all the credit to Eric and his staff.”

The National Council on Aging chose The Mustard Seed Project of the Key Peninsula to receive its 2026 Innovator Award at its annual Age+Action Conference, May 26-29, in Arlington, Virginia.

The award recognizes an organization that has created innovative solutions to improve the health and economic well-being of older adults in its community, which has been the mission of TMSP since its founding.

The citation read, in part: “The Mustard Seed Project is a rural innovation model that helps older adults remain independent, connected, and secure in the place they call home. … Programs respond to real needs, from transportation and nutrition to wellness, housing, and social connection. … The project is demonstrating how rural communities can build coordinated, equity-centered aging systems.”

CEO Eric Blegen, 61, received the award in Virginia. He succeeded TMSP founder Edie Morgan as executive director eight years ago, after 17 years at Harmony Hill, a retreat center in Union for people facing cancer, including five as its executive director.

Morgan founded TMSP in 2006 to provide services and programs ranging from yard work to Medicare assistance for the KP elder community. A long-term goal had been to build homes for assisted living for seniors unable to remain in their own homes, but who want to stay on the KP. She left her post as executive director in March 2017.

Blegen has since overseen the expansion of TMSP community programs, doubling the staff to 13, increasing transportation and assistance for elders, the expansion of the Crandall Center, the launch of the Mustard Seed Café, and the construction and operation of the assisted living Mustard Seed Village residential complex in Key Center. All 30 units are occupied, including by some couples.

“One of the reasons we got the award was the combination of the senior center with supportive care, assisted living, and memory care in the same hub,” Blegen said. “That is not something that a lot of organizations have been able to do.”

TMSP reported a 110% increase in meals delivered to elders in their homes on the KP in 2025, and over 24,000 examples of individual service just at the Crandall Center, a 15% increase.

“We’re definitely doing more classes and things like SAIL and yoga, tai chi, than other senior centers,” he said. “We just started a bone fit class designed especially for older women who have osteoporosis. A lot of people were very interested in that one in D.C.”

Board member Lisa Dunham, who started the SAIL program years ago, became certified to teach the new class.

“There are no empty spaces at the Crandall Center anymore; everything is being used all the time,” said Maureen Reilly, the chief operating officer. “I mean, we can squeeze people in occasionally in the downstairs meeting room, but the rest of the time the place is a zoo. Of course, I mean that in the best possible way.”

According to Reilly, the mission has always been to address gaps common in rural areas, providing access to housing, health, social connection, and economic stability. “Our community support networks send out firewood, send people to do yard work, home repairs, and transport people. And then, of course, there’s the Village, which is the final thing when you can no longer stay in your own home,” she said.

TMSP opened The Village in November 2022, the first supportive senior housing community on the KP. It is designed and managed based on the nationally recognized Green House Project, a small-home, person-centered model of rural long-term care that stresses high-quality housing solutions for rural communities.

Reilly has worked for TMSP for 12 years and has been with Blegen since he started.

“I don’t think we would be where we are today without Eric’s leadership,” she said. “Eric and I get along very well because I can be totally honest with him, and he listens to me. He may not agree, but he will listen.”

Reilly was recently invited to become one of the founding members of the Green House Advisory Council for national elder care. “That has got to be tied to the Innovator Award; it can’t be a coincidence,” she said. “The Mustard Seed is hitting the national spotlight.”

Robert McCrossin has volunteered for TMSP for 10 years and is now board president.

“I was invited to a fundraising event, and I just fell in love with everything, everything everybody was talking about, so I immediately went up to Edie and said, ‘I want to be involved, sign me up.’” The next thing he knew, he was on the finance committee.

“I’ve always had an affinity for seniors and understand they have different needs than the rest of us,” he said. “Well, I guess I’m a senior now too, so ‘we’ have different needs, so I went in understanding that.” McCrossin was adopted and raised by his grandparents in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana.

“This is absolutely the most significant award the Mustard Seed has ever received, and I give all the credit to Eric and his staff. I want people to know how committed he is to the seniors in our community, how much he has embraced the mission of the Mustard Seed and, with his staff, brought such progress to the organization, not just to the Village. That’s all thanks to Eric and his crew.”