Board Members
Tony Kirwan – President & Founder
Tony Kirwan has always had a heart for the poor and needy, which led him to run a feeding program in Cairns, Australia for many years. He and his wife, Jenni, were also involved in youth ministry during this time.
God continued to grow their passion to see children rescued from poverty and abuse, and after running their own electrical contracting company for 10 years, they sold everything and began Destiny Rescue in 2001. Tony believes in leading from the front as he and his teams are actively involved in the rescue of young children from the sex industry and building an organization that combats this crime against humanity.
Tony and Jenni, along with their three beautiful daughters, currently reside in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Rod Parker - Treasurer
Rod Parker has served on the board of Destiny Rescue America from its inception. He is a businessman who has worked in the fields of accounting, investing and development. He has been involved with ministry at his local church for the past 17 years in music, teaching, and as an elder. Rod wants to see the abused and mistreated find shelter, safety and eternal peace.
Rod and his wife Karleia have four sons.
Barbara Everett – Secretary
Shortly after marrying Peter, her Australian husband, in 1990, Barbara emigrated from the US to Australia. She committed to staying at home to care for their four children until they were all school-aged. From 2002 until 2009, she worked at a private school as library assistant, edited the weekly school newsletter, and also was a part-time freelance writer.
After hearing of the work Destiny Rescue was doing and visiting the Thailand project in 2007, Barbara and Peter made the commitment to return to the U.S. and started Destiny Rescue USA, Inc. They sold their home and vehicles, and arrived in the United States in January 2009. Since that time, they’ve taken on and developed their roles as CEO (Barbara) and COO (Peter).
Bernard Henriques - Officer
Bernard Henriques joined the Destiny Rescue Board of Directors in October 2010. Mr. Henriques was born in Zimbabwe, educated in Scotland as an engineer, and is currently employed by CTB Inc. – a Berkshire Hathaway Company, as Director of Corporate Supply Chain.
Mr. Henriques has worked and lived in many countries, and traveled to many more. This experience has allowed him to bring an international perspective to Destiny Rescue. Mr. Henriques international perspective, coupled with the emergence of his own children into their adult lives, has ignited his desire to find a way to help children everywhere discover and be able to use the gifts with which God has blessed them. He has associations with several organizations that help develop and educate orphans. “We all realize the urgency of helping the world’s children…they are our future. In James 1:27, we are told to look after orphans and widows. These two groups in the past had no advocates, no one to stand up for them,” says Mr. Henriques. “I believe the Destiny Rescue model works in preventing, rescuing and rehabilitating children from sex trafficking – changing the world one child at a time.”
Ben Minichino - Officer
Ben is a former U.S. Marine and Chief Law Enforcement Investigator and currently is Vice President for Strategic Security Programs at CLS America. He has served for 25 years in defense and Law Enforcement.
He and his family served as missionaries under the auspice of Brethren in Christ World Missions and the International Justice Mission in SE Asia and Haiti. As an International Human Rights Field Director, he led investigations and human aid work in the areas of sex trafficking, unlawful imprisonment, child forced labor, slavery, land seizure and government corruption.
He and his wife of 24 years have 2 adult children and reside in Elizabethtown, PA where Ben is involved in their local church.