Our Small Business: Bringing Comfort & Connection to Your Doorstep

Cassidy in Sedalia, the small Missouri town she grew up, with her beloved Gus, the famous and much-loved Kniest family & neighborhood dog, who even at 200 pounds could outrun the dog catcher, and who captured every big & little kid’s heart.

Coral Tree In-home Care is a small, family-owned caregiving agency based in Newport Beach, California.

Since 2010 we’ve helped some 800 older adults and their families throughout Orange County – Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, Huntington Beach, Irvine and neighboring Southern California communities – live safer, happier lives.

We are delighted to now also have a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) on staff: our Cynthia, known (like Cassidy) for her compassion, dedication & leadership. Go Team!

Family Roots, Caring Shoots

Family has been at the heart of Coral Tree since we started the business in 2010.

It was how Cassidy cared for her parents and uncle that inspired Donald to think a move into the world of home care was possible.

For Cassidy, having devoted much of her life to caring for her mother, father, and uncle, as well as helping look after older neighbors, friends & children, Coral Tree was, in many ways, simply continuing what she has always done: help others.

Together We Grow

Coral Tree has grown from a small family operation into a close-knit team of care managers, caregivers & office staff who support one another in offering personalized care, comfort & connection to our friends.

Del has been a steady, loving presence in the Coral Tree family since 2010, when she cared for our very first client. Strong & stable, with a warm maternal aspect — Del is the kind of person you can count on in times of need. She combines a lifetime of caregiving experience with a natural ability to see what families and caregivers need in the moment. Part of our scheduling team since 2020, she continues to support our caregivers, friends and their families with her strength, warmth, and wisdom.

(You can read a short “gratitude” piece Cassidy wrote about Del here.)

Cynthia — a Coral Tree caregiver since 2018 and now a licensed vocational nurse — serves as care manager, scheduler, & general manager, overseeing client care, caregiver support, and office operations. Her exceptional work ethic, quick-thinking & compassionate and humble nature, combined with her broad experience in the caregiving & nursing fields, together with her steady leadership, have made her role central in ensuring both our friends (and caregivers!) are wisely & compassionately cared for. Cynthia’s heart-for-others shines through every day in her integrity & commitment to others. A devoted mother & action-oriented-friend-to-all, Cynthia brings a calm, wise strength to every situation, whether its solving problems in the moment or answering a call in the middle of the night. A rare and precious presence — someone you can rely on completely.

In 2023, our long-time friend Christina joined us as a care manager. We’ve known Christina (as have so many of our friends) from the 30 years she worked in Dr. Storch’s front office on Newport Blvd — an ever-comforting voice on the phone and first kind face you’d see as you walked through the door. She was also kind to Cassidy’s parents, Jack and Mary Kniest, who were patients of Dr. Storch’s and always felt so well cared for by him and his staff. Cassidy’s mother, especially, adored Storch — she loved telling people how he’d named his son Jack “after” her husband. We all knew he was joking, but she always believed him, because she loved and trusted him so much — as did all of Storch’s patients. Christina brings that same warmth, creativity, attention to detail, and deep local roots to her role as care manager. Her experience, friendship, presence, and kind heart remain a source of comfort to so many.

Marta, one of our long-time caregivers, joined as a care manager in 2024. A powerhouse of energy, kindness, and devotion to the elderly, Marta is a rock for clients, caregivers, and coworkers alike. Every day she brings strength and huge heart to her work. A multi-faceted dama-of-care, we are so grateful for her work ethic, wisdom and years of caregiving, care management, and organizational experience.

Sari, a longtime Coral Tree caregiver and kind friend, has supported our caregivers with administration and HR since 2016. Gentle, thoughtful, and grounded, she has been a loving presence in the office and a devoted caregiver to so many of our friends over the years.

Angel, one of our newer team members, supports Cassidy, Cynthia & the CT care managment & office teams. Though she is new to Coral Tree, her kindness and generosity of spirit shine through in every interaction.

We are so grateful to every member of the Coral Tree crew — past, present & future.

We are also always, of course, incredibly grateful and indebted to all of our Coral Tree caregivers — without whom our services would not be possible. We are so grateful for all that you do.

(In the “Our Friends, Family, and Caregivers” section of our blog you can read various tributes to our caregivers that we’ve started sharing in our newsletters.)

Coral Tree Care Philosophy: Nurturing & Neighborly Care

Now going into our fifteenth year in business, Cassidy’s commitment to caring for others continues to be at the heart of what we do. It is her personal interest in others: in their stories, lives, and history that is the foundation of how we try and connect with and care for our clients.

Ours is a human-centered (rather than condition-centered) and client-centered model of care.

It’s a very personal thing to have people come into your home and personal life – and it’s often a time of great crisis in our clients’ lives when we first meet them. It’s Cassidy’s sensitivity and care that we try and bring to each client, family, and situation

Each of us brings different skills, ideas, life and business experience to this small business we’ve built together.

We understand first-hand the challenges faced in caring for aging loved ones. We also understand how vulnerable older adults become in their later years.

We all rely on the kindness of family, friends and community throughout our lives, and yet more and more in our modern world, so many of our elders end up isolated and alone.

We understand the struggles that children, spouses and family caregivers face in caring for aging loved ones. We also empathize with the pain and struggle that our seniors without local family or support face.

We understand, and we are here to help.

A Canopy of Support over the Years ~ We Get by with a Little Help from Our Friends

Coral Tree’s Angel with her parents then & now — family, love, & some birthday magic!

We’ve had the support of many kind friends, family, and colleagues over the years.

Donald’s sister Julia, who worked as a nurse and also as a caregiver, and was a dedicated hospice volunteer at St Luke’s in Cape Town, offered advice, resources, and endless enthusiasm for our work since we started Coral Tree in 2010. Julia passed away on December 23, 2022 in Cape Town from complications related to lung cancer. Her strength, loving nature, and sensitivity to others will forever be missed & will always remain a part of the work we do.

Our friend Father Sean Condon offered a prayer for the success of Coral Tree in 2010 — his first miracle he likes to joke!

Sally Keener, nurse practitioner, FNP-C, who we’ve known since we first moved to Newport Beach from South Africa in the late 80s, helped us for years on cases that required a medical perspective. Sally received her Bachelor of Science and Masters in nursing from Indiana University and has extensive experience working with the elderly, having practiced nursing for over 40 years.

Kathy Carchidi, a friend of Kate’s, who started The Village in San Clemente and in 2025 started her own elderly advocate business (will get those details here soon!) & who worked for Alzheimer’s Orange County for years, helped us as a care manager in 2017. A social worker, who’s been a passionate advocate for the elderly her entire career, Kathy helped us expand Coral Tree and make meaningful connections with other like-minded people and organizations in the Orange County in-home care world.

Our friend Karen Li supported Big Boss Donald with payroll and accounts for years. Karen is a long-time Macdonald family friend, having worked with and (put up with!) Old Man Macdonald in various former entreprenerial adventures.

Natasya, a friend of Sari’s, came on in 2023 as our office manager, supporting and helping Coral Tree in a myriad of ways for two years. Natasya was a very special addition to our team and we are so grateful for everything she brought to the Coral Tree “table” during her time us. Prior to coming to Coral Tree, Natasya ran a local in-home care business for eight years. She also has years of caregiving, organizational, long-term care, office, and in-home-care-related experience.

Our long-time family friend Nick Drance aka Uncle Nick helped us create beautiful art for the Oasis Fairs. Nick and Cassidy’s Uncle EG were dear friends. And Nick has been a part of the McGrath/Macdonald Clan since Studio 51 days!

Our friend Sterling Miles, who runs San Diego Home Caregivers, has been a great support to us over the years.

Since 2018, Arnoud Smits in the Netherlands, has overseen all of our website and print design. And kindly lets Kate pretend she is a graphic designer despite the fact she has no professional training, too many opinions & a Rainbow-brite-enthusiasm for color…

Christina’s son, Nate, helped get our online filing system up and running, scanning thousands of documents and getting them organized on our new “cloud” filing system — another Coral Tree miracle!

There are so many kind, caring souls who have helped us create this beautiful, meaningful caring business over the years. Even if I have yet to include you here, please know you are not forgotten!