By: Connie Skingel
Healing Art Missions is pleased to announce the addition of a new member of our Board of Directors, Lisa R. Thuer-Winkelfoos. Lisa currently serves as the Director of Development at the Women's Sports Foundation, which was founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King and works to level the playing field to ensure every girl and woman has the opportunity to reach her full potential through the power of sports.
Lisa's connection to Haiti is through her mom, Nancy. Nancy had a humanitarian's heart and she and Lisa took several mission trips together including building a clinic in Juarez, Mexico and working at a clinic in remote Jamaica.
Before her untimely death in 2016, Nancy had done extensive research on developing sustainable water systems with the goal of implementing her findings in Haiti. To honor her life and legacy, Lisa and a group of 12 others traveled to Haiti on Nancy's birthday in 2017 to work with a community to implement her findings.
While in Haiti, Lisa noticed that the needs in Haiti felt much more acute than she had seen in other countries she had visited, including the need for basic medical care, supplies, and nutrition. The desire to help stayed with her long after that visit and when she met with Connie Skingel, Healing Art Missions' Executive Director, to learn more about the organization, she recognized that HAM's work addresses the very needs she had identified during her time in Haiti. Lisa stated,
"I really felt called to work with Healing Art Missions. They are delivering on their promise to help connect Haitians to the basic human needs that we tend to take for granted. It's an honor to serve on the Board and to do what I can to help."
Lisa lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with her wife, Natalie, stepson, Griffin, and Labradoodle, Cabo. She is a fitness enthusiast and yoga instructor who is currently training for the 2023 NYC Marathon. She is passionate about gender equity, democracy, and making the world a better place for all.
Welcome to Healing Art Missions, Lisa!