Alaska's annual Juneau Women’s Retreat is held at the Shrine of St. Therese each May and provides a serenely beautiful location overlooking Lynn Canal away from the hustle and bustle of city living. The ladies attending have an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing, fun-filled weekend, sharing the love of Christ and developing a closer personal relationship with Jesus.
The idea to do a community service project began at the retreat held in May 2013. Attendees chose to make no-sew fleece throws for Bartlett House, a facility on the Bartlett Regional Hospital campus that provides affordable lodging for family members of sick patients and for southeast Alaska residents who travel to Juneau for medical care.
Ladies of the Juneau Church not only attended the weekend retreat but met several more times during the fall and winter to complete the blankets for Bartlett House. Nine fleece throws, suitable for both children and adults, were presented in January to Sheila Bradford, Bartlett patient access services director, by Juneau Church members Angela Imboden, Judy Evenson, Nickie Romine, Diana Pinar and Lynne Jackson.
Another community service project will be selected for the next Juneau Women’s Retreat, scheduled for May 9–11, 2014, again at the Shrine of St. Therese.