December 13, 2019
Fresh Start Women’s Foundation is happy to share the success of the Annual Client Retreat in partnership with many local businesses. The client retreat was held at the Jewell McFarland Lewis Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center and brought together 47 women who have completed various Fresh Start programs such as Jump Start, Mentoring and Upward Mobility for a day filled with self-care, reflection, meditation and self-love.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(PHOENIX, AZ) – Fresh Start Women’s Foundation is happy to share the success of the Annual Client Retreat in partnership with many local businesses. The client retreat was held at the Jewell McFarland Lewis Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center and brought together 47 women who have completed various Fresh Start programs such as Jump Start, Mentoring and Upward Mobility for a day filled with self-care, reflection, meditation and self-love.
“The women we serve are often faced with incredible stress and self-care gets put on the back-burner,” says Social Work and Special Projects Senior Manager, Rebecca Christ. “We designed this retreat as a way to honor the women who have invested in themselves by completing our programs, and give them a space to focus on their own needs with a day of true relaxation, rewards and enjoyment. Everyone deserves to treat themselves and this day was created to give that experience to these amazing women”
The morning began at 9:30AM with light refreshments and a welcome for the day. The attendees were guided through resiliency focused yoga and meditation by Sutra Studios owner Rebecca Fritz and Fresh Start staff member Elizabeth Howard to practice mindfulness and have an opportunity to cultivate self-compassion.
Afterwards, a wonderful lunch was provided by PDQ who donated everything needed to nourish the women with delicious food for the day. There was also a luxurious treats table with organic artisan chocolates and treats by b Naked Chocolate. Once lunch was complete, the women participated in an incredible expressive art project by Elizabeth Athens, LCSW.
The day was closed out with fabulous gift bags and a bouquet of flowers that were given to each woman. Ahead of the event, Fresh Start was incredibly fortunate to have the support of local entrepreneur and fashion designer, Sage Loman, founder of Sage Aubrey. Sage spearheaded an initiative to get local women owned businesses to donate products to the retreat and the response was overwhelming.
“I have such a passion for Fresh Start’s mission and have been engaged with their organization in a variety of ways. When I spoke to Rebecca about donating handbags for the retreat I recognized it as an opportunity to bring in other businesses,” says Sage Loman. “There are some incredible women owned businesses in the community who want to give back. I was overwhelmed by the positive response and loved bringing these women together to show Fresh Start clients that women are resilient and can follow their dreams to be their own business owners. Every woman deserves a beautiful new bag to mark her Fresh Start!”
Participating local businesses included: Teal Market, Flowers by M.e.l., Sweet Life by Lex, Naked Rebellion, One Imaginary Girl, Whish Beauty, Mame Soy Candles and Sage Aubrey. Built from Scratch Studios was also at the event and donated their time to capture the day’s magic through photo and video.
The women walked away, not only with beautiful gifts, but also tools for practicing self-care, an appreciation for their own self-worth and inspiring stories from female leaders in the community. Fresh Start intends to continue these annual retreats that celebrate our clients and introduce women in the community to mindfulness and new experiences that they may not have considered before. To view photos from the event, please visit: Fresh Start Women’s Foundation on Facebook.