I’m Holly Noonan. I got really sick in a way that made me homeless and took me 6 years to figure out. Because I had traveled around the world for 6 years in my twenties, I was scrappy enough to hit the road while I was sick and go camping for a year in the wilderness in New Mexico. I had never been there. I knew nobody. But I had nothing to lose because I had already lost everything. I was dismantled by the suffering. And now I’m full of joy. I am a social worker and Bredesen Protocol Health Coach. Here’s more about me.
I am constantly thinking about how to help relieve homelessness caused by environmental illness. In 2019, I finally sold my house in Maine and bought a brick garage that I renovated myself, with 8 of my friends, and made it into a home that is safe for people with environmental sensitivities. I call it the Taj Garage. It was A LOT of work. I’m pretty proud of it. It was my third building project. I want to do more. I also built this website.
Joseph Kennedy
Joe is an author, educator, architect and artist. In 1999, he co-founded the organization Builders without Borders, an international network of ecological builders who advocate the use of natural, local, and affordable materials in construction. Joe edited the books Building Without Borders (2004) and The Art of Natural Building (2015) and wrote twenty articles in them. He has given more than 120 public lectures and workshops during his thirty years of architectural experience with a focus on ecological design, green building and sustainable community design.
An an educator, Joe has taught both in academic settings, most recently at UC San Diego, and in community settings, especially teaching earth-building techniques (adobe, cob, earth plasters, etc.) both in the US and internationally. He has more than thirty years of experience creating curricula and teaching classroom and
hands-on project-based courses. He is currently obsessed with turquoise and learning about the history of turquoise in the Southwest. Joe draws, paints, makes jewelry and spins rock and roll vinyl on his local radio show.
Elisabeth Webber, Treasurer.
Elisabeth’s first memory of being sensitive was at just 5 years old, choking on the diesel fumes from the school bus. Born in the Mississippi delta, she never felt well, but soldiered on (as we do) becoming a labor and delivery nurse in her twenties. Her body totally quit working at age 31, when she became bedridden and diagnosed with ME/CFS and MCS in California in 1986. Without family to support her, Elisabeth went through decades of hell. She decided to go camping for the whole summer when she was 35 and describes it as “the best summer of my adult life.” After struggling with extreme poverty, chronic health issues and housing instability, Elisabeth went back to school for accounting and started her own bookkeeping business in 2007, called In Balance, LLC, which is now thriving. It wasn’t until 2019 that she found the Shoemaker Protocol and it transformed her life. Elisabeth is now full of joy and lives with her dog Roxy in the high desert wilderness. She loves hiking, nature, silence and the simple joy of now finally feeling good.
Tina Annibell, Secretary.
Tina is a self-taught garden-to-table cook, educator and master gardener from Long Island, NY. An extremely proactive health advocate, she recovered her own health from an early chronic illness through lifestyle and diet modifications and was inspirational to her devoted followers who attended her cooking classes and gardening workshops for years.
In about 2012, she contracted Lyme disease and co-infections from a tick bite she never saw. Eventually, she had to give up her beloved home and garden in Long Island and move to the high desert in the southwest in order to reset her health. Consummately optimistic as well as resourceful and dynamic in her drive towards health, Tina is a valuable member of any team, especially this one.
Advisory Council Members
Anita Budhraja, Advisor
Anita grew up in Arkansas, and was pretty healthy until she acquired environmental illness at age 31. After living in ecovillages and intentional communities around the world for 6 years, she acquired chronic fatigue and chemical sensitivities on her 10-day cargo ship journey from Europe back to the U.S. Her fancy looking but poorly ventilated hotel suite on the cargo ship had stunk of fuel exhaust. A few years later, she got a little sicker from a tick bite and a lot sicker from living in a house where the walls turned black and the ceilings collapsed from mold. Anita lost everything — her housing, belongings, job, health, and most of her friends and family — to mold, but housing was hands down the hardest thing about this illness for her. After the moldy house, entering virtually all cities and buildings made her throat swell up instantly. So she fled to the Southwest U.S. to live in a car in the desert, on a few patios, and occasionally indoors for the next 4 years. During that time, she got diagnosed with mold toxicity, Lyme disease, and MCAS and began treatment. At age 38, she is finally a whole helluva lot better. Anita lives in NYC and works as an Organizational Development Consultant helping nonprofits with communication, conflict resolution, and trust. She also enjoys salsa dancing and helping others as a medical intuitive.
Jeff Goin, Advisor
Jeff is the Executive Director for The Lotus Center; a non-profit community space for meditation, yoga, and other moving arts in Silver City, NM. He has been teaching and leading secular meditation classes in Silver City, on a volunteer basis, since 2008. His classes provide people with practical ideas and methods for improving relationships, overcoming anger, dealing with stress and, in general, establishing and maintaining a peaceful state of mind.
Jeff is former national budget manager of Greenpeace U.S. A resident of Silver City since 2007, he co-founded Single Socks, a non-profit thrift store that donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-hunger programs in Grant County, New Mexico. He holds an MBA in finance from George Washington University, and a B.A. in economics from University of Northern Colorado.
So… do you want to join us in realizing this vision?
For board members, do you have:
- Non-profit and fundraising experience?
- A strong work ethic?
- Knowledge base in one of the curriculum topics? (Building, farming, microbial management, social cohesion or personal growth?)
- Ecovillage or Intentional Community design experience?
- Please Contact Us!
For Advisory Council members, are you:
- A financial advisor with experience in CLTs??
- A diplomate member of ISEAI?
- An IEP member of ISEAI?
- An expert in mediation or conflict resolution techniques?
- A Natural Buildings Specialist?
- Please Contact Us!
crookedforestinstitute.org 