Dear Ladies,
I’m sorry to have to tell you that the Northern New England District Women and Religion Spring Retreat scheduled for May 20-22, 2011 is canceled due to a lack of coordinator and liability issues. We have put several requests out to the group, starting at the Fall Retreat, to fill the role of coordinator but no one has come forward. I’ve coordinated most of the retreats for the past 5 years or so and it has been an amazing experience. It has helped me professionally by improving confidence in public speaking and organizational skills, but also personally by giving me the opportunity to get to know so many amazing women. Although I have no intention to leave the group altogether, it is someone else’s turn for the responsibilities and rewards of leadership. Another issue is the subject of liability as we currently are not under the umbrella of the District, there is personal financial risk to the organizers.
Susan Gorman, Jen Civiello, Sue Buckholz, Faith Barnes, Barbara Jabaut, and Marjorie Young are meeting with Rev. Mary Higgins of the NNED on April 8th to work out details of re-affiliation with the district. This will mean working in some new ways with the district, including administrative support and liability coverage. We hope this meeting will allow for a fall retreat at Geneva Point Conference Center on Sept. 30, Oct. 1-2. In order for a fall retreat to happen, we will need a retreat coordinator and perhaps other women to serve as part of the Women and Religion NNED committee. More details will be available after the April 8th meeting.
If retreats have been important to you in the past, think about how you might become involved to allow them to continue.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Leslie Bayers
