A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP AND LOVE

Regina Moody’s Four Decades of dedicated service to holy angels as President/CEO

It was 40 years ago that the Sisters of Mercy appointed Regina Moody as the President/CEO, filling the shoes of Holy Angels foundress, Sr. Marie Patrice Manley. Holy Angels started in 1955 and is one of the largest nonprofits in the region.

Regina’s accomplishments are discovered daily in the joyful, empowered faces of the differently able individuals served by Holy Angels. Her accomplishments are recognized by the 350-member staff who have turned to this leader and mentor for support and vision while providing exceptional, quality services 24 hours each day.

She has served as a visionary force, guiding Holy Angels through significant growth and development. She has dedicated herself, entirely, to Holy Angels and its mission. Her professional career has been to create a place of “loving, living and learning for the differently able”.

With steadfast commitment and genuine compassion for the differently able, Regina will vacate her position as President on December 31, yet continues to serve through continued leadership and service in a lighter capacity. She will use her experience and expertise in fundraising, marketing, public relations, special projects and Holy Angels business enterprises toward the organization’s continued growth, including a large-scale anticipated campus expansion in 2023. As a leader in the community, she will continue to have a presence on various boards and committees.

This change in leadership makes way for Kerri Massey, a 24 year member of Holy Angels’ leadership team, to assume the role of President/CEO beginning January 1.

Regina has led Holy Angels through National Accreditation (CARF-Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) and significant growth and expansion of programs and services to provide additional opportunities to improve the overall quality of life for the residents.  

Before Regina arrived, Holy Angels was just a single building – the Morrow Center. Now, the nonprofit encompasses 17 buildings, including four business enterprises. Regina was instrumental in starting Cherubs Café over 25 years ago to allow some residents the opportunity to have meaningful employment. Holy Angels added the Cotton Candy Factory and Bliss Gallery in recent years to downtown Belmont along with Spruced Goose Café in McAdenville.

Holy Angels is internationally recognized for some of its innovative programming and services specializing in comprehensive medical and developmental programs including:  medical and educational services, horticulture therapy, music, art, snoezelen rooms and Camp Hope.

REGINA’s FIRST 20 YEARS: 1982-2002

A New Model of Care

In the early 1980s, Holy Angels shifted to a developmental model of care – proactive comprehensive nursing and therapeutic programs that integrate various interventions – necessitating a change in leadership for our growing ministry. The Sisters of Mercy appointed Regina Moody as the first lay leader in 1982. She would become the visionary leader Holy Angels needed to bring innovative programs and services for the children who called Holy Angels home.

The first 20 years of Regina’s leadership brought much growth and many changes to creatively meet the needs of the residents. Throughout the campus expansion, her goal was to create a model of compassionate care for the residents who were medically fragile and support for their families. The comprehensive developmental program focused on helping each resident achieve his or her full potential through special education, physical therapy, and creative arts while caring for their complex medical needs.

• Facing the challenge of residents who were aging out of the children’s program in the mid-1980s, Holy Angels expanded its existing residential services for children to include adults with the addition of two group homes located off campus in Belmont – South Point in 1986 and Lakewood in 1987. These were followed by Individuals with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (IIDD) group homes on the Holy Angels campus – Pinehaven, Brookview and Oakcrest in 1992, Belhaven IIDD group home in 2002 and Moody Place in 2005.

• In 1989, a group of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers came to Belmont for the fraternity’s first Give-APush Weekend (part of Push America, now known as The Ability Experience) and built a covered picnic shelter and accessible playground now called Push Place.

• Having a workforce comprised primarily of women, Holy Angels began offering on-site child care with the opening of Little Angels Child Development Center in 1990. It provided the perfect opportunity for children with and without disabilities to play, learn and grow together.

• The Great Adventures Club was established in 1990 to offer adults living at Holy Angels or in the community the opportunity to get together for social, spiritual, recreational, artistic and service experiences.

• A recreational camp, located on the South Fork River, was specially designed for people with disabilities through help from Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and Push America/The Ability Experience. Camp Hope opened in 1994 with a fishing pier, covered pavilion, beach area, nature trail and wheelchair-accessible boat access, providing residents the opportunity to catch a fish and feel the wind on their faces while cruising down the river.

• Cherubs Café opened in 1996 to offer vocational training and meaningful job opportunities for adults who are differently able.

• Residents began enjoying the sights, sounds and scents of the Snoezelen Room in 1998. This sensory experience features state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment creating a sensory playground. Expansion of services and enhancement of creative arts would extend beyond Regina’s first two decades, cementing the hallmark of her legacy as the President and CEO of Holy Angels.

REGINA’s NEXT 20 YEARS: 2002-2022

LASTING GROWTH

Regina Moody led Holy Angels from a single building to a full Belmont campus, growing our nonprofit’s capabilities, staff and individuals served at the same time. She also led a major program expansion, adding seven new homes that allow residents to be able to spend their entire lives at Holy Angels.

But it’s more than new programs and changes that highlight this everlasting legacy; it’s Regina’s respected example of leadership that steered our organization for four decades and will continue to serve as guidance for many decades to come. Her tenure leading this organization has focused on turning Holy Angels into a place of loving, living and learning for the differently able. Each new program, opportunity and expansion was developed as a direct response to the ever-changing needs of Holy Angels’ residents, their families and the community. And it takes a true leader to recognize those needs and pivot an entire organization toward meeting then exceeding them.

In the early 1980s, as Regina stepped into her role of President/CEO, Holy Angels’ operating budget was $500,000. Today, it exceeds $19 million. Only three dozen employees worked with us then, but we’ve grown ten-times over with more than 350 staff members. Our mailing list barely reached 1,500 people and, now, our outreach extends to 15,000 – plus additional outreach across our community endeavors, downtown employment opportunities, social media channels, local government involvement and other chances to contribute ideas. It’s not just Regina’s heart and soul that led our ample growth over 40 years, but her business acumen and community leadership. For this, she was often recognized. Regina is a recipient of the NC Order of the Long Leaf Pine award as well as a repeat nominee of Charlotte Business Journal leadership awards and other statewide, regional and local recognitions.

This is my final letter serving as President of Holy Angels. I believe things happen for a purpose and to that end 40 years ago I was called to this ministry we call Holy Angels. It truly has been a tremendous privilege, responsibility and challenge to lead and serve this mission of mercy.

As I reflect over my years here, for me it has always been and will continue to be my lifelong passion and ministry. I have received much more that I have given and I am blessed to call Holy Angels, my family. Of course, I could not have served without the tremendous love, support and care of my husband, David, our son Kevin and his family and our entire family and friends who have supported me over these 40 years of servant leadership.

I am grateful to the Sisters of Mercy and our Board of Directors who have entrusted this mission and care of Holy Angels to me. Their faith in me, their guidance, direction and support of my vision and our committed, talented team have allowed us to develop our internationally recognized continuum of services for those who are differently able.

Our families have trusted our compassionate care for over 67 years and to me it has been one of my greatest life’s gifts of loving, living and learning with and for our differently able. My own faith and belief is that ALL individuals regardless of their disabilities deserve to have the opportunities in their life to be the best they can be. Holy Angels’ core values of sacredness of life, human dignity compassion, service and excellence truly speak to the commitment to our mission. Holy Angels is and has always been a wonderful love story about commitment, compassion and family. Where else can we experience angels on earth, other than “Holy Angels?”

The Holy Angels’ family also extends to our group of supporters, community partners and corporate sponsors. Those who willingly donate their time, talent, and treasure. All of the things that make Holy Angels so special and unique could not happen without them. While I am so very proud of all the accomplishments over the decades, they aren’t about me. They’re about all of you. My sincere gratitude for your love and support.

While I will no longer serve as President of Holy Angels at the end of this year, I will not be going far. I will remain steadfast in my support of Holy Angels as a donor and volunteer. I will continue to be a voice and the biggest advocate of this organization and providing a home of loving, living and learning for the differently able.

As I pass the baton to CEO, Kerri Massey I am excited and confident that Kerri and her team will lead Holy Angels with grace, compassion, service and commitment in caring for Holy Angels’ future and all of our special angels.

Thank you to the Sisters of Mercy, our exceptional residents, staff, families, board members, supporters and volunteers for the many, many mercy moments I have experienced these many years.

In closing, I would be honored if you would consider the opportunity of my retirement to make a donation to Holy Angels.

In mercy and hope,

Regina P. Moody, M.Ed
President Emeritus