Strategic planning, like the work currently underway at LCSNW, is an important way to step purposefully into the future.

Celebrating a centennial, which we’re in the homestretch of doing at the agency, is an important way to show respect for the past–and for the people who stitched together our 100-year legacy of health, justice, and hope.

It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate symbol than a centennial quilt. And it’s hard to think of a better person to lead the project than Nancy McFarland. Not only is Nancy the manager of our Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in the South Puget Sound district, she’s also a quilter extraordinaire.

“It was an honor to be asked to make this quilt as part of our Centennial Celebration, and to know that it will be hanging in our office long after I am gone,” Nancy says, estimating she put 80 hours into it.

It’s also fitting that her craftwork hangs in Tacoma, where LCSNW was born in 1921. The quilt was mounted on a wall in the South Junett Street office on Dec. 17.

Each block in the quilt represents one of LCSNW’s core senior and independent living programs in Pierce, Kitsap and Clallam counties. Nancy says she’s inspired by the creativity of the program managers who designed the blocks.

“Just like a quilt wraps one in warmth, we believe our services and staff are also wrapping those we serve in the warmth of Health, Justice, and Hope,” says Joseph Fry, the Home Care director who helped mount the quilt.

And who knows — the quilt just might have a subtle effect on our strategic planning process.

As Confucius once said: “Study the past if you would define the future.”