Co-Founder and Board Chair
Alyssa Boyd graduated from McMaster medical school in 2003 and traveled North to Thunder Bay to complete a two year residency program in rural family medicine with a special focus in palliative care. She returned to Southern Ontario in 2006 for a brief 3-month locum in Collingwood in the hopes of traveling...
Dr. Alyssa Boyd
Co-Founder, Registered Nurse, and Program Coordinator
Lisa Wright is a Registered Nurse and co-founder of the Living Wish Foundation.
Lisa was born and raised in Mississauga growing up with a family cottage in Blue Mountain. Some of her happiest memories originate from spending time with family together at the cottage...
Lisa Wright
Director & Treasurer
Ingrid McLeod-Dick is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a BSc. from Queens University and an MBA from Schulich School of Business. Ingrid worked 16 years in public practice and also taught at the Schulich School of Business for the past 25 years in its MBA and EMBA program in the areas of finance and accounting...
Ingrid McLeod - Dick
Director
Karen Ladner Haas has a diverse background in both health care and corporate settings including career and leadership coaching, financial planning, education, and ongoing volunteer leadership roles within healthcare. She has a BA from the University of Calgary and a certificate in family engagement in research from McMaster.
Her integrity, respect for the opinions and experiences of others, and drive to achieve organizational goals makes her a perfect fit...
Karen Ladner Haas
Wish Coordinator
Melissa Nyhof graduated from Georgian College as a Personal Support Worker and has continued her education with courses in palliative care, leadership and communication.
Melissa holds the position of Team lead and worked with us granting wishes as a volunteer before starting as a wish coordinator in 2022. Her experience with E3 Community Services and her belief that a wish can renew hope, with one life changing experience at a time speaks our language...
Melissa Nyhof
Registered Nurse
Samantha Stark is a Registered Nurse and her career has aligned with Long Term Care, Palliative and End of Life care, and legacy projects. Her passion in nursing is ignited by our work and her patients.
Samantha is grateful for the honour to work on wishes and to contribute to the community and the people and families we help every day...
Samantha Stark-Johnson
Nancy Good-Kennedy
Co-Founder and Director
Being in love with people, who they are, and what makes them a person, Nancy Good-Kennedy R.N., R.Ac , Co-founder of The Living Wish Foundation, joined the field of nursing more than 20years ago. She knows firsthand, that when human-beings are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness it is not uncommon...
Tanya Mazza
Director
Tanya Mazza’s career history includes more than twenty-five years dedicated to the arts in both public and not-for-profit settings. As a member of the marketing & development staff at Canada’s National Ballet School, Tanya gained extensive fundraising experience that included special events, major gifts, endowment and planned giving. Recently Tanya served as Coordinator, Arts & Culture for the Town of Collingwood...
Dr. Michael Lewin
Director & Secretary
Dr. Michael Lewin has been a family physician for 27 years. After his studies at the University of Toronto, and residency at Queen’s, he worked in Maine, Bolivia, Ecuador and the Marshall Islands before starting a family and deciding to move closer to home, serving the Collingwood community for the last 17 years...
Cal Patterson
Director to August 4, 2021
Cal Patterson
Cal‘s commitment to the Living Wish Foundation as one of our very first board members was very much welcomed. The breadth and depth of his knowledge and experience was invaluable to the success of South Georgian Bay’s newest not for profit organization.
In 2020, we awarded Cal with the "Cal Patterson Outstanding Achievement Award" for going above and beyond to help others...
Heather Brown
Wish Manager
Heather Brown, BASc, DKATI, RP (qualifying) is a professional Art Therapist and a Registered Psychotherapist (qualifying) who has been working alongside individuals with a palliative diagnosis and their families for the last 7 years. Heather feels privileged to work alongside her clients as they share the undying love that lasts a lifetime.
She found her passion for counselling while studying at the University of Guelph. It was here that Heather first explored art and creative expression as a tool to support individuals through difficult challenges. She continued her studies at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute in Nelson, BC to further instil a foundation of the power of art and other expressive therapies as a compliment to traditional talk therapy...

Established in 2018
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Marie LaRose, 2018-20
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Lisa Wright, 2018-20
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Michael Lisi, 2018-21
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Cal Patterson 2018-21
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Mike LaCroix 2018-22
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Will Thomson 2018-22
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Linda McaLeod 2020-23
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Tina Jansen Van Vuuren 2021-23