P. Mark Kirwin, Esq. – Director
Mark Kirwin retired in 2022 as a civil litigation partner at the law firm of Kirwin & Francis, L.L.P. in Ventura, California. He has over 25 years of legal experience litigating and advising clients regarding complex cases, including issues in the areas of business creation and operations, construction defect law, contracts, employment law, fenestration, insurance, and advising non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations. Mr. Kirwin worked as a certified mediator and a California Superior Court-appointed mediator and arbitrator. He is licensed to practice in California and Colorado. He is the past president of the Ventura County Bar Association and Ventura County Legal Aid. In 2023, Mr. Kirwin received the Ben E. Norman. Award from the Ventura County Bar Association for his years of public service. The Ventura County Salvation Army awarded both Mark and Angela Kirwin the Outstanding Servant Award in 2024.
In addition to KIRF, Mark served on the Board of Directors for the Downtown Ventura Lions Club and the Rotary Club of Ventura, and was a co-founder and volunteer for the Ventura County Legal Aid walk-in clinic. He served on the executive team for the International Climate Change Team of Mediators Beyond Borders (MBB) and was its Designated Contact person for the UNFCCC. Mark worked on climate change dispute resolution issues at the Climate Change Treaty Negotiations, advocating for mediation and informal problem-solving to address climate change disputes at local and international levels. He has authored a suggested treaty text regarding mediation submitted to the United Nations Climate Change Parties for consideration. You can read more about MBB at MediatorsBeyondBorders.org.
He has volunteered for local community service projects in Ventura and elsewhere on behalf of the humanitarian organization. Mark has assisted the Rotary Club of Ventura with disaster relief efforts, including Hurricane Harvey (2017), the Baton Rouge flooding in Louisiana (2016), and the Earthquake in Nepal (2015). He has assisted local and international education and healthcare projects such as the Gigante Community Health Center in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua.
Mark received his Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law.
When not working or volunteering, he can be found spending quality time with his adult children. His interests include Taekwondo, ocean swimming, and trail running. Before becoming a parent, Mark competed in triathlons and had finished in two Ironman Triathlons. Mark was born in Hamilton, Bermuda, and he and his family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the late 1970s. Mark has lived in California since he began law school in 1988.
Mark described what motivated him to start KIRF. Mark said, “I was inspired by the tragedy of the 2004 tsunami because we were so lucky to have survived, and there were so many people who needed help.”
Angela R. Kirwin, MA – President
Angela Kirwin is an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Pierce College, College of the Canyons, and Los Angeles Valley College. In 2018, Angela and Mark Kirwin were awarded the Ventura County Red Cross Heroes award for their volunteer work helping people recover after losing their homes during the Thomas Fire disaster. The Ventura County Salvation Army awarded both Mark and Angela Kirwin the Outstanding Servant Award in 2024 for their continuing public service. Angela holds a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from California State University, Northridge, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing from San Diego State University. Before starting KIRF with Mark, she had worked for environmental and education non-profit organizations such as Roots & Shoots, a program of the Jane Goodall Institute, and the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy (which became the Ventura Land Trust) as a web design and online marketing consultant. In the for-profit sector, Angela has enjoyed working in the outdoor industry for international brands Patagonia, Diamondback Bicycles, and PowerBar. Angela used to be a nationally ranked competitive triathlete in her twenties. She qualified for and competed in the World Ironman Triathlon Championships in Kona, Hawaii, in 1994 and the Boston Marathon in 2004.
Angela’s current interests include local ethnobotany, the traditional foodways of California’s indigenous peoples, environmentally sustainable food cultures, and finding new ways to make anthropology engaging and relevant to her students while helping them become aware of their own biases and more empathetic toward people from different cultural backgrounds. Angela has lived in California all her life. Angela’s past research areas include the following disaster anthropology, the subcultures of triathlon, marathon running, and ultra running, indigenous California cultural resources (specifically Prehistoric and Mission Era Chumash material culture in Ventura County, California via archaeological work in 2011-2012), cross-cultural disaster relief (2005-Present), gender and social change in rural Bihar, India (2006-2015), and applied consumer website usability research through Rockett Studios (2005-2015), biocultural adaptations and cultural rituals in sport sub-cultures, and a cenus of wild howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua.
Angela was inspired to help others through KIRF after experiencing the 2004 tsunami disaster firsthand, meeting Dr. Jane Goodall, and through the influence of her mother-in-law, Diane Kirwin. After retiring from social work and raising five children, Diane founded the Shekhawara Village School (formerly known as the Kirwin James International School) with local Indian humanitarians in rural Bihar, India. No matter how young you are or how old you are, anyone can make a difference. Angela has said more than once, “Everyone is important. Anyone can make a real difference for good in the world.” Angela’s favorite quote from her former boss, Dr. Jane Goodall, is this one: “Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved.”
Patrick M. Rea
A native Missourian, Pat has been involved in humanitarian and relief work in Latin America since 1996. His experience includes educational and economic development as well as disaster relief in Bolivia, Haiti, Peru and Mexico. Pat’s educational background includes Spanish, Latin America and Caribbean studies, as well as Music.
A 501(C)(3) REGISTERED NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
KIRF is a registered nonprofit organization with the state of California. Click here to see a copy of our Certificate of Registration of Unicorporated Nonprofit Association in the State of Californi a [PDF]. KIRF is a tax-exempt public charity 501(c)(3). Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law.
