ABOUT THE TEAM
the board
Joy Ellsworth, MPA, Board President
Development Director
Metropolitan Energy Center
Darlis Malindi, CPA, Board Treasurer
CEO and Founder
Sunrise Tax and Accounting
Connie Stewart, Dev., Board Secretary
HW/FW Systems Engineer (ret.)
Master Gardener (ret.)
Iyabo Dedmon, MEd
CEO/Founder, ThriveOn Concepts, LLC
President, Aspiring Daughters of Promise
Michael Nobo, MSW
Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker
Certified Integrative Mental Health Prof.
Co-Owner, Food Mood Therapists
Jim Vokac
High School Science Dept. Chair (ret.)
Host/Creator, "Some Things Reconsidered" (KZGM 88.1)
Founder, Eleven Point River Headwaters Stream Team (Missouri)
Staroyce Washington-Nealy
Founding Director
Global One Urban Farming
the advisors
The Very Reverend Father Joseph Tharakan
House of Blessings Retreat, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Rector of St. James Episcopal Church, Springfield, Missouri
Chief Izzy “Inúi Wiyópila” Zephier
of the Iháŋktoŋwaŋ Tribe, of the Wičíyela Daḱoťa
Founder of Bringing the Sacred Back to the Black Hills
the volunteer staff
Carl Stafford, KC Regional Director
also Public Health Program Associate
Kansas City, Missouri Health Department
Sara Lamprise, Eureka Springs Regional Director
also Program Development Consultant
Luke Ellsworth
Land Management Planning and Facility Repairs
Leon Franklin
Neighbor Grown Food Network Program Lead
Tonni Green
Garden Volunteer Event Coordinator
Iscela Huntington
Sustainability Consultant
Tony Mazza
Eureka Springs Retreat Hospitality and Caretaker
Andrea Sheeran
Forest Volunteer Event Coordinator
Let’s make 2022 the year these dedicated folks get paid.
honored past board members
Marie Ellsworth, BA
Marie is a retired director of an early childhood program, and has directed education and community development programs. She is the most recent Past-President of Gregory Ridge Neighborhood Association.
Lea Christopher, MBA
Lea served on the founding board as Clement Waters' Treasurer, and is a retired foundation program manager. Lea has written over $6M of funded grants for public-benefitting infrastructure and housing projects in the Missouri Ozarks.
our partners
A multidisciplinary nonprofit organization with a mission to transcend everyday challenges by using the Arts to nurture creative & undeveloped ideas that shape society. MRW! and Clement Waters work hand in hand to realize better lives through outdoor beauty.
Heartland Conservation Alliance
Staff and workgroup members of HCA have proven themselves precious beyond measure to our motion forward. Working with like minds gives us the confidence that what we do matters.
The instructors and mentors at Block Knowledge have played a key part in guiding Clement Waters' business planning with endless patience. Our founders are eternally grateful for every new chance to understand varying perspectives, which PUK presents whenever needed.
Through marketing, networking and involving us in their events, Climate Council of Greater Kansas City has connected Clement Waters to the Kansas City climate-caring community. This has maximized our ability to perform our mission within and beyond the KC metro. See more at https://climategkc.org/.
OPPORTUNITY IN ADVERSITY
our history
In 2013, a promising career opportunity placed Kansas Citians Luke and Joy Ellsworth in the middle of rural southern Missouri. The move caused a sudden drastic lifestyle change. Three months after the move, Luke's debilitating immune disorder mysteriously disappeared.
Luke's sudden and outwardly obvious physical healing caused the Ellsworths to look at their unfamiliar Ozarks lifestyle with new eyes. They asked themselves, "What specifically changed?" The answers were: 1.) more time in nature, 2.) fresher local food, 3.) autonomous belonging within a community. It was clear that city-dwellers (and even struggling Ozarkians) could benefit from this knowledge.
From these realizations, the concept of Clement Waters Retreat was born. The Ellsworths’ long- term goal was to bring urbanites into the country to experience natural healing, but there was a problem. Their urbanite friends were literally scared of going into the country.
While forming the backbone of a 501c3 retreat-supporting institution, Luke and Joy learned in person about self-sufficiency and survival techniques used by people living deep in rural areas, before returning to Kansas City to partner with grassroots efforts to bring nature to the people and vice-versa. The partnerships are defining new possibilities for everyday people to gain natural control over their own health outcomes without having to break the bank.