Volunteer Spotlight: Tommy Nichols

By Emily Da Cruz
08:00 PM Wed April 27, 2022

Meet our volunteer for the April 2022 volunteer spotlight, Tommy Nichols. Tommy is a husband, father, teacher, and devoted LIG Global Foundation volunteer.

Volunteer Spotlight: Tommy Nichols

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to meet our volunteer for the April 2022 volunteer spotlight, you already know just how lucky you are. Tommy Nichols is a husband, father, teacher, and devoted LIG Global Foundation volunteer.

On any given day, you can find Tommy teaching instrumental music and computer science to students in kindergarten through eighth grade in Cranbury, New Jersey. When he’s not positively impacting our youth through the arts and sciences, you can find Tommy underwater in a scuba suit while snapping breathtaking imagery of wildlife. His penchant for beautiful photography extends beyond the water and into every facet of his travels and volunteer work with LIG Global. In fact, a large majority of the photos on our website are credited to none other than Tommy!

The LIG Global team was introduced to Tommy in 2014 by his wife and LIG Global Director of Development, Dr. Debbra Keegan. When he recounts his introduction to Dr. Ernani Sadural (then CEO), Tommy says he was, “immediately hooked on the idea of delivering humanitarian relief to people in great need.” So the following year, Tommy embarked on his first LIG Global mission trip to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. From then, he volunteered five more times over the next four years. Through Tommy’s service with LIG Global he’s volunteered in the Dominican Republic three times, once in Peru, and once in the Appalachia region of Virginia. In addition to all of Tommy’s usual volunteer work, he served a term as the Chief Technology Officer on LIG Global’s executive board as well.

As if Tommy’s obvious dedication to the communities LIG Global serves wasn’t enough, he is also a bundle of joy on any mission! He is always quick with a joke, lending a helping hand, and making himself useful in any way possible. Tommy is an exemplary non-medical volunteer for LIG Global that exemplifies that it is not necessary to be a medical provider to make a positive impact on any of our LIG Global missions.

We asked Tommy what he loves about LIG Global and his response came in three parts.

First, he mentioned that he “loves getting to know the dedicated medical and non-medical volunteers and the people we serve around the world.” Next, he said that he “loves preserving the stories and chronicling the adventures of LIG folks on missions through photography.” His final answer to the question was that he simply, “loves being a part of such an extraordinary group of individuals.”

We know that without Tommy, the past seven years would not have been the same! We’ve all thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Tommy during that time and know that if you haven’t met him already, you’ll enjoy getting to know him too. Thank you for everything Tommy!