RISA CHARITABLE TRUST
email:info@risafund.org
web: www.risafund.org
TEL: 774.276.0202
9120 173rd Ave SE
Snohomish, WA 98290 USA
Formerly the Executive Director and then the Senior Africa Consultant of the RISA Charitable Trust, Bob Schminkey remains active with RISA as a member of the Board of Directors. He currently works with the Bread for the World Institute, and as a consultant and fundraiser for HIV/AIDS related development projects in South Africa through the University of Stellenbosch.
Prior to the formation of RISA in 1997, Bob and his wife Rev. Sara Holben served as Presbyterian Church USA Mission Workers in Cape Town, South Africa. Arriving in February 1994 just prior to the first democratic elections in that country, he was uniquely positioned to observe and participate in South Africa's transition to a non-racial democracy.
Working in the township of Guguletu, Bob served as a community worker with the J. L. Zwane Reformed Presbyterian Church. In this role, he worked with women's cooperatives, public education initiatives, day care centers, income generating and small business development projects. He also worked on the larger issues of reconciliation in a racially and culturally diverse society.
Bob travels to South Africa regularly leading travel/study tours of the region. With his extensive understanding of the new South Africa, Bob works to introduce Americans to the dynamic changes taking place in that country.
Before entering the mission field in South Africa, Bob and Sara lived in Tallahassee, Florida where Bob served as Executive Director of ECHO Outreach Ministries, a local social service agency. During the 1980's, Bob worked as an organizer for Bread for the World, a Christian citizens' movement concerned with issues of hunger and poverty. He has also worked with Church World Service/CROP, the Pittsburgh Hunger Action Coalition in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and the Southern California Interfaith Hunger Coalition. A History major at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Bob studied at The School of Theology at Claremont and Union Seminary in New York as well.
Bob is very active in the Presbyterian Church (USA). From 1997 through 1999 he served as a Presbyterian International Peacemaker, working with Presbyterians around the USA on issues of peace and reconciliation, drawing on his South African experience. Currently he serves the national church as a member of the leadership team for the Presbyterian AIDS Network and as a volunteer facilitator for a series of workshops on mission education and personal discernment. Regionally he serves as Chair of the Peacemaking Subunit and the HIV/AIDS Task Force of the Strategy for Mission Unit of New Castle Presbytery.
Bob and Sara live in Chestertown Maryland, where Sara serves as Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Chestertown.