From Kathy Owens:
Strength for the Journey – something we all need on the journey of life. Here at BCS we are blessed with many friends and family. Others in our community are not so fortunate. Recently, the admin staff prepared gift bags for men and women attending a special week at Buffalo Mountain Methodist Retreat Center. The mission of Strength for the Journey is to provide a safe, caring and healing community for women and men living with HIV/AIDS by offering an opportunity for spiritual and emotional growth in a supportive and nurturing environment. We didn’t know the mission statement at the time, but as a group, we wanted to make a difference in these lives. So the idea of individual gift bags for the campers came about. Each bag was filled with items such as a Bible, note paper, water bottle, stress ball, body wash, shampoo, playing cards, homemade cookies and personal notes written to the campers. Along with the goodie bags, Correne gave an hour class on couponing! What a wonderful response from all involved with the retreat. They were so appreciative of the gifts and had a great time at the class. Each of us were blessed by participating in this outreach.