Misericordia Angel Squad alights Tuesday

Lisa Stiver was on her way to work the first time she saw the angels.

​Ascending the escalator in an officer tower at the corner of Portage and Main, Stiver encountered them — volunteers sporting sparkling halos, fuzzy wings and billowing gowns, inviting her to make a donation to the Misericordia Health Centre Foundation.

“It was just really inspiring to see them,” Stiver said. “You don’t see angels very often.”

Little did she know then that a few years later, she would get wings of her own.

Every year, the Angel Squad descends on the Maryland Bridge for several days to solicit donations for the foundation. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the squad showed up downtown, too.

Stiver volunteered with the angels for the first time 10 years ago after joining the foundation’s board of directors. She’s been a part of the Angel Squad ever since, and she’ll be there Tuesday morning as the group kicks off its 30th annual campaign.

“I find it very uplifting,” Stiver said. “It makes people feel like there’s hope.”

It’s the start of the holiday season, the 52-year-old adds, and this year’s kickoff coincides with Giving Tuesday — an annual event held the Tuesday after American Thanksgiving and the Black Friday and Cyber Monday buying frenzy that follow — that encourages people to make charitable donations.

“It starts your giving day off really remembering how important it is to give to the community, and it brings people together who want to support Misericordia,” Stiver said of the Angel Squad.

If Tuesday is anything like previous years, Stiver will be at the hospital by 6 a.m. so that she can help ask rush-hour commuters for drive-by donations. Sometime after the sun comes up, she’ll head to work.

“Throughout the year people will come up to me and talk to me about it and ask me about it, and that’s what’s really wonderful because it’s obviously something that strikes a chord with them,” Stiver said.

The Misericordia Health Centre Foundation is aiming to raise $60,000 during this month’s Angel Squad campaign. The money will support pediatric dental and ophthalmology patients at the hospital.

All donations made until Dec. 31, up to $30,000, will be matched by sponsors.

“I do think celebrating our 30th anniversary is a big deal,” said Kris Erickson, the foundation’s president and CEO.

The name, location and purpose of the initiative has remained the same over three decades, she said.
“The only thing that changes is it keeps growing in size — more donations and more volunteers. The essence of the Angel Squad has never changed and is never going to change. We’re really proud of that.”

The initiative is more than a fundraiser, Erickson said.

“It’s really about holiday spirit and it’s rooted in the MHC’s mission, so really what that means is it’s about community and impact.”

It’s a mission that Stiver believes in, which is why, after nine years on the foundation’s board of directors, she joined the hospital’s board a year ago.

Stiver said her parents taught her and her sister that it was important to be involved in the community, something that was reaffirmed by the law firm she joined more than 25 years ago.

“I have been told that I’m over-committed to volunteer roles,” said Stivers, who has served with a variety of organizations in the arts, sports and health-care sectors. “But I try not to do more than four at once. That’s usually my max.”

​Article originally published by The Winnipeg Free Press on December 1, 2025. 

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