Nilsa McKinney is chairwoman of this year’s Women of Grace Luncheon.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
For Nilsa McKinney, it’s a good day when she gets to kick off her shoes and stroll along the beach in shorts and a T-shirt.
And while she loves the sunlight, well, given her druthers, McKinney would much prefer to stay out of the spotlight.
Most of the time she leaves that up to her better-known husband, Frank, a well-recognized luxury-home developer and author.
Every now and then, however, if the cause is good enough, Nilsa McKinney will reluctantly put on a pair of dress shoes and step onto center stage.
“We joke that I wear shoes only because they make my outfit look good,” she says.
McKinney will be in the spotlight this month as chairwoman of the 15th annual Women of Grace Luncheon hosted by the Bethesda Hospital Foundation and benefiting the hospital’s Center for Women and Children.
The event, set for Nov. 12 at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, is expected to draw close to 700 guests and will honor five women selected as Women of Grace. Those honorees are: Barbara Gracey Backer, Laurie Raber Gottlieb, Fonda Huizenga, Una James and Anne Vegso.
A past recipient of the Women of Grace recognition, McKinney says she left her comfort zone and accepted the role as chair of the event due in part to her long relationship with the hospital and her understanding of its impact in the community.
“I took on being chair only because I truly believe in the work of the foundation and of the hospital,” she said.
McKinney, 53, was one of the people who helped start the Women of Grace program 15 years ago, when she took part in a planning session for the event.
That first year, she recalls, the awards were held in the hospital cafeteria with about 80 guests.
“It’s been very satisfying for me to see this event grow the way it has,” she said. “Every year, it’s become the event that nobody wants to miss.”
Over the years, the luncheon has raised more than $1 million and this year, McKinney said, the money raised will go toward helping the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a part of the hospital she visits every chance she gets.
In addition to her support of Bethesda, McKinney has been a strong supporter of several other local organizations, including the Achievement Centers for Children & Families, the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and St. Vincent Ferrer Church and School, where she ran a fundraising campaign.
But the effort she and Frank are most passionate about is the Caring House Project, which they founded in 1998. The project has created more than 20 self-sufficient villages in under-developed areas of the world, including Central America and, most of all, in Haiti.
Through the Caring House Project Foundation, the couple and their 16-year-old daughter, Laura, have had the chance to visit schools and orphanages that wouldn’t exist without the foundation’s support.
“There’s no amount of money in the world that could give me the joy I get on the days I visit the school and orphanages,” she said. “Every time we visit these countries, the rewards that come back go beyond what we could expect.”
While she remains pretty much behind the scenes, Nilsa McKinney is deeply involved in the couple’s real-estate development company, Venture Concepts International.
An interior designer, she handles the logistics of the business, working out of a trailer on construction sites and putting out fires that come up.
“I’m pretty good at executing plans B, C and D,” she says.
For the McKinneys, the real-estate projects help make it possible for them to support the local community and to continue the work of their foundation.
“We like to say that we build the big houses so we can then build the little ones,” she said.
Nilsa and Frank McKinney are making it a point to pass on their passion for helping others to their daughter, who has seen firsthand the impact the foundation is making.
“We want her to know the wonderful feeling that comes with giving because it gives you perspective on life,” Nilsa McKinney say. “You find that the simpler things can give you the most joy.”
Things like walking barefoot on the beach in shorts and a T-shirt.
IF YOU GO
What: 15th annual
Women of Grace Luncheon
When: 11:30 a.m. Nov. 12 Where: The Mar-a-Lago
Club, Palm Beach
Tickets: $150
For more information: Visit www.bethesdahospital
foundation.com or call
561-737-7733 ext. 84445.
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