Home Participants Profiles Ms. Hanne Strong

Ms. Hanne Strong (U.S.A.)

Spokesperson on ecumenical communities and environmental education
President of the Manitou Foundation

Ms. Strong has created the largest international, interfaith retreat centre and sustainable teaching community in North America. Through the Manitou Foundation land-grant programme, her main centre in Colorado provides more than 2,000 acres of land to support the work of spiritual traditions from every faith and corner of the world. Each community has its own independent location and retreat programme. Ms. Strong has also put 1,200 acres of the foundation's lands into conservation areas to preserve the pristine mountain range and its wildlife habitat.

Ms. Strong’s Manitou Institute, formed in 1994, distributes funds to spiritual, ecological, environmentally sustainable projects and indigenous peoples' programmes. Over the last 25 years, Ms. Strong has worked with Native Americans throughout Canada and the United States and indigenous peoples worldwide, to assist them to preserve their spirituality, cultural values and native lands.

She is an internationally recognised speaker on ecumenical communities and environmental education. She founded the Earth Restoration Corps to train and educate youth in sustainable living.