Choose from a diverse array of mixed media classes featuring collage, assemblage, jewelry, fabric, fiber arts, sculpting, and painting.Īmy will be leading a mixed media art workshop. “So we want to make sure we give them everything that their community has to offer and that we can offer them.Art & Soul is a creative art retreat offering unique workshops taught by a hand-picked group of professional and talented instructors. “On the realistic side, for some of them this could be their last vacation with their family,” she said. She said of the 2,000 families that applied last year, 140 were accepted. Harrington said each year Little Pink Houses of Hope provides free retreats across the country, including places like Key West, Fla., Scottsdale, Ariz., Lake Tahoe, Calif., and more. “You come, you show up and there are no worries,” she said. “We wanted to have one last family vacation and have family time on the beach before she left,” she said.īousquet commended the organization for the retreat. The retreat, she said, was meant to give her and her family time together before her daughter left for college. It really means a lot to us.”Īlissa Bousquet, a participant from Nebraska, said she was diagnosed with breast cancer on New Year’s Eve in 2015. “I went through a divorce during that time and needed a break from it all. Since then she has undergone six rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, 30 rounds of radiation and additional surgeries.Īfter hearing about the organization from a chemo nurse, Mattingly decided to apply for a retreat in Ocean City. In June of 2015, Mattingly was diagnosed with breast cancer while 33 weeks pregnant. “It’s something that hits home and it’s a way of giving back to the community.”Īmanda Mattingly, a participant from Kentucky, praised the organization and local businesses for the retreat. “It’s taking care of people who have run into some unfortunate times,” he said. Noll explained that his restaurant was providing a free lunch for all 43 participants and 11 volunstars. In addition to these accommodations, she said restaurants like Harrison’s Harbor Watch, Chick-fil-A, Carrabba’s, Greene Turtle, Shore Community Church, Bethany Blues and General’s Kitchen have provided free meals.īob Noll, owner of General’s Kitchen, said Harrington, a former Ocean City resident and police department employee, reached out to him at a Brothers of the Sand reunion for his support. Throughout the week, the group enjoyed free paddleboard lessons, paint nights, pottery classes, boat rides, waterparks and the like. Harrington said Vantage Resort Realty has provided each of the families an oceanfront condo for the week and Red Doors Community Center has provided a common space for the group to use. “There is just a tremendous outpouring from the community of support and I really wanted to come and thank them personally,” she said. Though she does not come on every retreat the organization hosts, Patten-Coble said she wanted to be in Ocean City for the week to thank the community. “It became perfectly clear to me that there were a lot of support services for breast cancer patients but not nearly enough support for families,” she said, “and when anybody is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is diagnosed.” Jeanine Patten-Coble, founder and president of Little Pink Houses of Hope, said she started the nonprofit seven years ago, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “They bond because they think they are the only one going through that diagnosis and then when they find other participants they find another support system.” “When someone gets that diagnosis, sometimes their whole world turns upside down and they just don’t know who to turn to or what to do,” she said. A breast cancer survivor herself, Harrington said the organization gives her a chance to give back the support she received in her own diagnosis.
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