Through this renovation period, Alie French, our Director of Operations, has spearheaded the effort to organize and oversee all the new improvements. Her

After more than thirty years at the Center, I have been asked what I think my legacy will be. Beyond hoping that the SLC family feels as well cared for as

vision and her tenacity bode well for our future. I am so grateful for her leadership, and I hope you will soon come to visit and see the result of her outstanding work.

Because of the generous capital support from many in
our amazing community, we are ready to embark on the most vital element of our audacious goals: securing the future for the next generation by enhancing our special endowment funds. Every donation into the Subsidy Fund, the Friendship Fund, and the Cultural Fund will continue to grow while a percentage of their annual earnings will be used for future financial assistance for residents and programs for the Greater Boston community. This will strengthen everything we do in the years to come. See pages 6-8 for more info about the funds and the impact you can have.

I ask you to help me build a legacy we can all be proud of. Please contribute to our endowment funds so your gifts this year can grow to help countless others in the future. Together, let us make our audacious goal a reality and create a healthy and empowering legacy for the future.

With heartfelt appreciation,

Joe Carella
Executive Director
Scandinavian Charitable Society of Greater Boston

years toward our most pressing capital, growth, and sustainability needs for the next generation and long into the future. This next stage is the biggest, boldest, and most audacious campaign in our history.

future health and impact of both the SLC and the SCC&L. The Fund the Future Campaign will secure the resources for both capital and endowment funds, from the Nordic Hall to the

And with your help I know we will be successful and realize something to be proud of for generations. Through this unprecedented capital and endowment campaign, we will:

• Advance our distinctive assisted living model to its full potential by supporting our residents and their families to live their best lives.
• Bring together community members and organizations and spread the model to other housing and care organizations striving to improve the human condition.
• Lean into our Scandinavian roots, values, and cultures while building a diverse, inclusive, multigenerational community of the future.

And when we’re done, we will have refreshed, replenished, and reinvigorated our Center and our endowment funds to ensure the

Frederick Veranda. From upstairs to downstairs. And central to the Campaign is to grow all our endowed funds: The Johansen Subsidy Fund, the Frederic Friendship Fund, the Scandinavian Cultural Fund, and the Fund the Future Sustainability Endowment.

Like marathon training, we will take one step at a time. Here’s the first. This summer we’ll begin our first capital improvement project:

• Lobby and Welcome Desk renovation
• New Public Bathrooms serving the Nordic Hall and Dining Room
• Main Dining Room renovation and new furnishings
• Kaffestugan and Living Room remodel

I’m sure you will agree that these renovations will benefit and be appreciated by everyone who lives at the Living Center or uses…

Audacious Goal would be personal and the other professional.

My personal goal was to run a marathon (26.2 miles) by October 2024. In hindsight, it was silly. I was never a long-distance

forward one step at a time—always forward.

During my attempts to get well and train to reach my first goal, I often contemplated the journey toward my professional goal: securing

runner; I’d undergone two knee operations along with back surgery and was told my running days were over. According to pretty much everyone, it was too risky. The pushback from doctors, nurses, family, and friends was understandable. To make matters worse (and unknown to me at the time) there would be six more corrective operations that would cause numerous delays in my training. To many, my goal was too ambitious, but I was determined and was prepared to do it alone.

So. Marathon training. You don’t go from recovery to 26.2 miles in an instant. You take small steps at first, a few miles at a time, as your muscles and joints adjust to exertion. You walk first, then you jog, then you commit to a 5K, then you double that. Then you double that again and keep at it and learn along the way that the only way to overcome challenges is to not get stuck in despair but to move

the future of the Scandinavian Living Center, Cultural Center, and Library. That in itself is like another marathon! How would I go from the personal to the communal? Similar to my marathon preparation, I understood that there would be setbacks and obstacles. Knowing what I know about the SLC after 30 years, this quest would not be about going it alone! This was always going to be about coming together—and moving forward—as a community. And let me tell you, taking on a marathon as a community is a journey that so many friends and supporters have already been a part of.

• When we launched the Fund the Future campaign back in 2019, it was to begin a 10-year plan to galvanize community support to renovate, rejuvenate, endow, and ensure the future of this organization that we love and believe in.