Retired drill sergeant brings leadership, compassion to Lake City Center

It isn't immediately apparent that Lake City Center Executive Director Nancy Phillips is a retired U.S. Army drill sergeant who directed deployment teams in support of overseas operations and spent 20 years in active military service.

She smiles and greets patrons by name when they walk in the door. Her voice is gentle and kind, and she is not of large stature.

“There’s a picture of me as a drill sergeant,” she said Monday, beginning to smile. “I look like a 12-year-old.”

The military training begins to make sense as she discusses the many roles she has taken on since starting at the center as a volunteer in 2020 and joining the paid staff in 2023 as a receptionist.

“A couple weeks after I started, I moved to administrative assistant,” she said.

When the last director departed the center in July, Phillips applied for the position alongside about a dozen other candidates. After the board conducted a director search, she emerged as the top choice.

She went straight to work, starting with a newsletter to share a bit about herself and the vision she has for the center.

"I believe in commitment, integrity, loyalty and grace," Phillips wrote in the letter. "I am committed to the patrons of Lake City Center. I am loyal to those whom I serve. My integrity is my word and my word is my bond. Grace allows me to approach situations and people with empathy, recognizing that we all have struggles. Maintaining a graceful attitude will create a more positive atmosphere in our community center."

Originally from Thailand, Phillips is a naturalized American citizen.

“I’m imported,” she said with a laugh. 

She said her dad struggled to say her birthname, Varunee, so he simply said, "We'll just call her Nancy."

"So, they did," she said.

Married to a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office deputy and herself a highly trained leader, Phillips has already expanded activities programming at the senior center with more on the horizon.

“We started chair yoga, a Fit and Fall Proof class, a lot more line dancing classes because they like to dance," she said. "We also included another day of lunch.”

She first connected with the center when her son, Ben, needed to fulfill volunteer hours for a high school project.

“Since he volunteered here, I said, ‘Oh, let me go with you,’” Phillips said.

It was the seniors who motivated her to keep coming back.

“They’re just so much fun,” she said. “You can learn so much from them. I like listening to them, their stories, their backgrounds. There are a lot of veterans here, a lot of ladies with some mad skills — art, knitting, real-world experiences.”

A main pillar for Phillips is compassion, which is evident in her interactions with newcomers and regulars alike.

“I think anybody can be kind,” she said. “It wasn’t a hard fit to be helpful here.” 

Lake City Center used to average about 240 people who would come for lunch each month. Now, about 530 guests enjoy congregate meals on a monthly basis. 

Phillips said the center has made a big push to remind seniors that the $5 donation per meal is a request, not a requirement. Partnerships and food sharing with local churches and the Third Avenue Marketplace in Post Falls have helped keep prices down, she said.

“They’ve been great," Phillips said. "They’ve helped us out a lot."

The center serves six Kootenai County towns through its Home Delivered Meals program, which is conducted under the Area Agency on Aging at North Idaho College. This program provides about 221 vulnerable seniors with five nutritious meals a week.

“The goal is that once we establish some sponsorships and things like that, we would like to get it to where we are providing seven meals for the seniors that are homebound,” Phillips said. “Right now, the thing that’s hurting Idaho seniors is malnutrition. A lot of these seniors, the only meals they’re going to get are the home-delivered meals, and five meals is not a lot.”

Phillips also has a vision to increase the community element of Lake City Center by hosting events that are open to more than seniors.

“It’s not going to be a day care, but say grandparents bring their grandchild to do an art class, more of a generational type of thing," she said. "For grandparents and kids, there is not a whole lot of things for them to do together. If we can come up with programs they can enjoy doing together for a few hours, especially in the summertime when kids are out of school, that way kids and grandparents can hang out.”

The nonprofit Lake City Center recently hosted a sold-out themed fundraiser to support its Home Delivered Meals program.

Phillips will also be one of eight veterans speaking at "A Veterans Salute in Song and Story," a production that will be at the Lake City Playhouse at 6:30 p.m. June 3-6 and at 2 p.m. June 7-8. Tickets will be $15 at the door; veterans get in free. All proceeds will go to the veteran resource nonprofit Newby-ginnings of North Idaho.

Visit lakecitycenter.org for details about meals, activities, volunteer opportunities and other ways to get involved with Lake City Center.

    Nancy Phillips is seen here in her last command photo before she retired from the U.S. Army in 2009.