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From The Beginning
Fifteen years ago, Peace at Homecare began with two computers, a YouTube tutorial, a hand-drawn logo, and one simple goal: to care for people the way Moira Noble wished her own family had been cared for. What followed wasn't just the growth of a business, it was the creation of a company built on compassion, relationships, and doing what is right, even when it isn't the easiest path.
In 2011, Moira found herself at a crossroads in her career. She decided she wanted to pivot, but wasn't sure where to go. She tried to figure out what she was good at. After debating going into children's shoes, she ultimately landed on homecare. But this was not a linear journey. From a young age, Moira was always a caregiver, growing up as one of eight siblings, being a babysitter for most of her life, and after identifying these qualities within herself, she did the research. Homecare was also personal to her. As a young mother, Moira herself received homecare support, an experience that initially felt difficult to accept but later became the inspiration behind her passion and purpose. Seeing a gap in the market at that time, she saw a need. Like any business endeavor, she ultimately faced naysayers, one being her mother. Despite this, she muscled through, built her own website with two computers and a YouTube video, painfully created the first logo from scratch, hence why the bird used to have a cut-off beak, and wrote out rack cards that her father reviewed one by one. A brilliant appeals attorney and gifted writer, he helped refine her message and provided support during those early days. "Looking back now, it's hard to imagine that what began around a kitchen table would one day serve hundreds of families.”
She sent out letters to everyone she knew in Fayetteville, expecting little turnout, even expressing to one of her mentors in an email, “If these 150 letters even get two callbacks, I will be happy with it.”
Despite the challenge of forming a new business, Moira muscled through. She met her first client's daughter-in-law when volunteering at Francis House, whose in-laws were living in Maple Downs. Hanging out at Maple Downs got her another client, and not too long after, she had to hire another caregiver.
2011
2026
Still then, Moira was handling the entirety of the company by herself, every morning driving around town collecting handwritten time sheets and stopping into client homes. “I always leaned on others, and never bit off more than I could chew,” Moira shared, explaining her journey through this process. From 2011, Moira constantly leaned on the expertise of others, whether that be a payroll organization, the Small Business Association, lawyers, accountants, HR consultants, coaches, or anyone who could lead her in areas of unfamiliarity. Moira credited countless organizations, specifically highlighting coaches including Jen Liddy, Brandon Mastrangelo, and now Tara LoCastro. She emphasized the importance of not having to do it all on your own.
Little by little, this small boutique-style, white-glove, companion-only agency grew, and little by little those naysayers came around. She did not want a large franchise, and she always stayed true to this. As someone who once needed homecare herself and saw firsthand the impact caregivers have, she knew she wanted to stay true to the white-glove service, even if that meant saying no to people. “I had to learn to say no.” Moira shared, as she explained that the biggest part of this puzzle was that yes, white glove means not being able to take on every client, but that doesn’t mean our service stops there.
Early on, Moira started building relationships and networking through organizations like Community Living Advocates, making connections with organizations serving the same populations, like Mother Goose Medical. Those relationships became the foundation of a philosophy that has remained with Peace ever since. As we grow, we still know we cannot help everybody, but our service does not stop there. “Just because I said no, doesn’t mean the phone call stopped there,” Moira shared. It has been critical for us to build relationships outside of our organization so that, even when we cannot provide care ourselves, we can connect callers with organizations we know and trust. Whether that means pointing clients in the direction of care management companies like Care Patrol, Reflections, and Aging Advocates, or affiliate organizations like Empower Parkinson, the CNY Alzheimer's Association, and Living with Dementia, and other trusted homecare providers, she is committed to being a helping hand.
As clients grew, Moira realized a need within the industry, receiving calls frequently about higher levels of care and navigating the long-term care process. Moira was weary about expanding into this uncharted territory, and had no intentions of learning this process. However, she shared in her story, "Cindy wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we made it happen." Cindy, a caller looking for care for her father, inspired Moira to delve into long-term care. That conversation ultimately led Peace to create its caregiver registry, expanding the ways the organization could serve families throughout Central New York.
As time went on, so too did the need for other facets, one being helping clients write appeals and truly being a client advocate. Moira shared a story that she helped a woman fighting her insurance company over not covering hearing aids for a woman who was wheelchair bound and whose hearing got worse. She lived alone at Maple Downs and could never hear the fire alarms. The client won the appeal, got new hearing aids and was now safe!
Not only did Moira realize the importance her business started having on clients, she realized the same for the caregivers she employed. She shared that people were getting out of subsidized housing, and she saw them buying a house for the first time. They were making money, and their work was making a difference. “They are the heart and soul of what we do,” Moira shared. Our caregivers embody our core values, and recognition is a huge part of our puzzle. Providing caregivers with resources, incentives for going above and beyond, and importantly, an ear when they need it, is critical to us.
When asked what lessons she had learned, Moira had a lot to share. You can’t do it all, it's not going to be perfect, work-life balance is critical in a 24/7 business, lean on the professionals,and finally: You’re not going to make everybody happy. Despite all the hard lessons, the outcome of helping people and doing the work we do still brings her such great joy and makes it worth it when hearing from clients about the impact Peace has had. “Owning your own business is hard but rewarding,” she shared.
Looking ahead, Moira shared that she is not focused on growing our client headcount, but rather on improving the service that we provide and maintaining the white glove experience. Looking ahead, our focus is to continually improve our systems so we can provide boutique-style services. There are so many organizations that want to grow geographically, and there's nothing wrong with that, but that is not our focus. We need to take care of the clients we currently have while also making sure that we have a strong stream of new clients coming in so we can continue to provide hours to our most important asset, our caregivers. The nature of homecare is ebb and flow, so continually looking at technology, attending webinars, expanding education so we can provide the best services for clients and caregivers is our goal. Fifteen years later, Peace at Homecare remains exactly what Moira envisioned, a boutique, relationship-driven home care organization that believes every phone call deserves compassion, every caregiver deserves appreciation, and every family deserves to feel supported, whether or not they become a client.
2011
2026
