Rose Hall Retreat Project...The Farm. August 2013
A Year Later....the update.
It has been an interesting first year since GTOC opened the doors of Rose Hall to Aspiring At Risk Women. There have been a number of women that have found a safe quiet place to reflect and grow. Some women simply needed relief and safety from living in their car. Others needed time away from family to regroup with the strength to return. Some women took advantage of the generosities given to them then disrespected from whence it came. We are all individual.
The purpose of GTOC is to place positive opportunity before women where opportunity is scarce. Opportunity itself cannot perform. It must be acted upon. It must be communicated with.
The greatest of pleasures and achievements this first year at GTOC's Rose Hall, has been in witnessing the amazing women who understood positive opportunity, utilized it to achieve, and lived the dignity of sharing that opportunity to others. They are the purpose of GTOC. We have one such very special and extremely motivated young mother that is making great positive strides to long term self sustainability in her relentless efforts in education and caring for all those who have the pleasure to meet her. And so my friends, volunteers, helpers, believers, we are achieving the mission of GTOC!
It has been a tough year physically on the property of Rose Hall. With the extreme hours I spend in my full time work to be able to maintain the expenses of Rose Hall, I have been limited in time as to interior and exterior maintenance. I have been reviewing the photos from it's initial renovations and decor and much has changed. Not so much though that it cannot be brought back to it's original beauty in a weekend of hard work. That time is coming soon!!
We are looking forward to beginning stage one of the Market Garden project that will facilitate much of GTOC's Health & Wellness Goals for At Risk Women. Along with this, it will give the women opportunity to perform leadership roles in various aspects in the business of Farm and Home and supply them with fresh produce to alleviate a portion of their living expenses. This Market Garden project will also follow within the GTOC guidelines of "Giving Back to Community" where the women will be able to provide healthy food via Foodbank or School Programs for Children to families in need within our local community. As we know, both the Health & Wellness as well as the Giving Back to Community goals grow strength in dignity and the Leadership Roles provide experience for better quality of career choices.
Where so many At Risk Women are treated and expect to be treated with a judgmental negativity, they are finding a positive, non judgmental opportunity in Rose Hall where hope of achieving true better quality of life and real life time goals are once again, or maybe for the first time a reality.
As we close off our difficult yet amazingly gratifying first year at Rose Hall, we look forward to a very progressive & productive second year. To all our supporters, the greatest of Thank You's. Our belief in supporting our Community's Daughters, Wives, Mothers, Grandmothers, is that our Community will stand strong behind them through generous donations, volunteers and communicated supports.
Veronica Lockyer
Spokesperson, GTOC
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