‘True leader.’ Strawberry Fields CEO prepares to retire after more than 40 years

In Cindy Pasquinelli’s more than 40 years with Strawberry Fields, she’s been responsible for bringing community assets Good Day Cafe and Scraps & Skeins to fruition — all part of her longtime mission to help and empower people with disabilities.

As she recently reflected ahead of her July 31 retirement, Pasquinelli counts the cafe and Scraps & Skeins store, which both offer inclusive work opportunities, as two of her career highlights. The openings of the two businesses were an opportunity for the “public to see what Strawberry Fields has been doing for 50 years,” she said.

Strawberry Fields is a nonprofit that offers “a wide range of services appropriate to varying degrees of disabilities and need while promoting greater independence, social involvement, and self-reliance through personalized support programs,” according to its website. Pasquinelli joined the organization in 1985 and became chief executive officer two years later, a role she’s held ever since.

“It was really wonderful to have an opportunity to be able to provide support for people that were coming out of hospitalizations, mental health hospitalizations, and to see them get well, because we really believe that mental illness, it’s a recovery process,” Pasquinellini said. “But as our society has learned more about what that means, it has really provided a lot of support and funding for programs of what we do.”

She was first introduced to the impact of mental illness through an aunt who suffered from postpartum depression and was later placed in a mental institution. Pasquinellini said this event triggered her interest in mental health and improving the institutions intended for those deemed mentally ill.

As CEO of Strawberry Fields, Pasquinelli said that she wanted to provide opportunities to integrate those with mental disabilities in the State College community, which is just what Good Day Cafe and Scraps & Skeins do.

About 20 adults with disabilities are employed at Good Day Cafe and seven with mental health challenges work at Scraps & Skeins. Anyone is welcome to apply, and Pasquinelli said that both places have a waitlist to work there.

“What we saw was this unbelievable growth in these people,” she said. “It’s just opened up a life for them. They have friends. They’ve met people. They have a job to go to that they love, that they participate in. It’s just been wonderful.”

She invested her own money and raised money to open Scraps & Skeins in 2014. The creative reuse store operates behind Strawberry Fields’ offices on Enterprise Drive in State College. A few years later, Strawberry Fields was awarded a $100,000 Centre Inspires Foundation to open Good Day Cafe in the Hamilton Square Shopping Plaza in 2018. Both enterprises have grown since, both in impact and popularity among locals.

“I think it’s been a blessing for the community,” Pasquinelli said.

The social enterprises are examples of the growth that has happened at Strawberry Fields during Pasquinelli’s tenure. When she first started, the organization offered three programs and now provides more than 20, according to a press release.

“What we do matters, it really makes a difference in these people’s lives,” Pasquinelli said.

Fran McDermid, the director of mental health and social enterprise at Strawberry Fields, described Pasquinelli as a “true leader.”

“She has an amazing ability to get the best work out of her staff,” said McDermid, who has worked at the organization for 18 years and worked directly with Pasquinelli for seven. “She does it with grace and kindness and a laser focus on the mission of Strawberry Fields.”

In addition to the programs growing under Pasquinelli’s leadership, McDermid said she’s also grown Strawberry Fields into a $12 million agency.

“Her passion and her true legacy of success is her willingness and dream to meet the needs of people with disabilities,” McDermid said.

To further grow Strawberry Fields, Pasquinelli said Strawberry Fields became an affiliate of healthcare organization Devereux last year. Additionally, she says that a “younger generation” will continue to uphold her legacy once her retirement is finalized.

Carrie Walker, residential manager at Strawberry Fields, said Pasquinelli — who she views as a personal role model — will leave an impactful legacy at Strawberry Fields.

Walker began to work at the organization in 2000, and is now the manager of two of the residential group homes in the intellectual disabilities program.

“She commands a room when she walks into it,” Walker said. “Both her businesses have (allowed) people to see that individuals we work with every day can be out in the community and have a job.”

Pasquinelli said she feels proud of their work, but said there are still more “people to be served.” She hopes for more improvements to increase employment opportunities as well as more funding for the expansion of the Strawberry Fields programs.

“My biggest achievement has been growing the organization,” Pasquinelli said tearfully. “I have an unbelievable leadership team, many of us have been together for a long time, and we all believe in the mission ... I think we’ve made Centre County a better place.”