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Registration for the 2020 empowHER Leadership Retreat opens in January 2020. Please join our mailing list to receive updates and information! In the meantime, check out our gallery and information on past retreats!
All participants must be registered and have the following forms filled out prior to participations:
In celebration of our five years of reaching young girls with empowerment and inspiration, and in order to improve our ability to reach an even more diverse group of young women, we are pleased to announce an updated one day format for 2020.
This one day retreat comes in response to participant feedback and will allow us to concentrate on the most effective sessions of the event. It also maximizes space, presenters, volunteers and commitment from both parents/guardians and attendees.
With the help of sponsors, we reach girls from the 4th through 9th grades with support and education through our interactive workshops. empowHER girls embrace their strengths and differences, build their self-confidence and participate in giving back to their communities.
Sponsorships and grants make this event accessible to all girls.
Support comes from corporate and individual gifts, as well as grants from charitable foundations.
Looking for an uplifting and exciting mentor opportunity?
We need women 18 – 24 years of age to mentor around 10 young women in 4th – 9th grade.
Mentoring for the empowHER Leadership Retreat means:
• Being a role model,
• listening ear, and
• facilitator for your group on April 25, 2020.
Are you looking for a fun-filled, fulfilling and active volunteer opportunity?
Volunteer to help empowHER 450 4th – 9th grade young women!
We are looking for individuals who are available either the afternoon of April 24, 2020 for setup or the event day of April 25, 2020 (or both)!
Past volunteers have shared how fulfilling the experience is and the overwhelming sense of gratitude in being able to help potentially change the trajectory of so many young women’s lives!
Time | Event |
|---|---|
8:00am | Participant Drop-Off |
8:00 – 8:30am | Registration and Light Breakfast |
8:40am | Welcome with Suzy Merchant |
8:55 – 9:15am | Keynote with Anne Bonney |
9:15 – 10:30am | Breakout Session 1 |
10:45 – 11:45am | Breakout Session 2 |
11:45am – 1:00pm | Lunch (provided) |
1:00 – 2:10pm | Breakout Session 3 |
1:15 – 2:45pm | Boundaries and Bravery: Understanding How to Best Support Your Youth (session for parents/guardians) |
2:20 – 2:45pm | Mindfulness, Gratitude & Meditation – Belinda Thurston |
2:45 – 3:15pm | Giving Back to Your Community – Carrie Rathbun Hawks, ePIFany Now, and Skylar Medes – Suitcases for Kids |
3:15 – 3:30pm | Closing |
3:30 – 4:00pm | Participant Pick-up |
Anne Bonney is a fun, energetic speaker, author, podcaster and workshop facilitator. After 20 years in highly successful leadership positions, Anne founded Different Shoe Enterprises and now uses her experience, education, and expertise to ignite her audience’s courage to embrace discomfort; in change and in communication. She shares fun and relevant stories, time-tested knowledge and immediately applicable strategies for making positive changes in your life.
Presented by Kyle Holsinger-Johnson, Bianca Guess, and Nikki Racine
Presented by Sakina Ibrahim and Morgan Stone
Presented by Isabella “Izze” Copeland and Stacey Fenton
Presented by Anne Bonney
Presented by Jill Marlan, Amanda Hayhoe-Kruger, Kelly Preston, and Janice Milligan
Presented by Tanya Panizzo
Community service has always been an important part of empowHER. This year, our empowHER girls will help benefit “Suitcases 4 Kids”, created by local teen, Skylar Medes. Read below to find out what you can bring to help this great organization!
At our closing session, participants will get to meet Skylar and hear from ePIFanyNOW, another organization who helped Skylar reach her dreams!
Suitcases 4 Kids was founded in 2014 by Skylar Medes! The Medes family has been a foster family for seven years and have had 15 foster children during that time. When Skylar was in the 6th grade she noticed that most of the foster kids that came into their home had very little clothing, personal care items or a suitcase/bag to carry their items. Some children would have clothes and other items they brought with them that they carried in a garbage bag or a paper box, but most of them came with only the clothes they were wearing. This made her realize that when children come into a new foster home, they would not have many essential items they need right away. So, Skylar started to collect gently used clothes, suitcases/bags and personal care items to give to her foster siblings. Eventually she expanded her donations and has been able to offer a suitcase full of belongings to over 300 foster children. When she won the 2017 Y-PIF (Youth Passing It Forward) Award, with the help of Sally Babbitt (a local lawyer) she decided to become a non-profit organization.
We are asking empowHER participants to help Skylar and her organization! If you can please bring a donation for children in foster care, you will be helping kids in your community. Personal care items are always needed: socks, underwear, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo/conditioner or lotion, or gently used suitcases/bags. Skylar will make sure that these donated items are given to children in foster care so that they can have items of their own! Thanks for your help!
Presented by Carrie Rathbun Hawks
