Reflections from Retreat Participants
Through our various retreats, we have created a welcoming and trustworthy space our members of our agriculture community to connect, engage, and renew their inspiration and purpose in their work and lives.
Reconnecting with Purpose was one such retreat experience, and this video captures some of the impacts described in participants’ voices.
We have invited other past participants to share the program's impact in a few sentences. The excerpts below offer a glimpse into the many different ways participants were touched or changed by their experiences.
Aaron Ristow
"I have a better sense of what is important to me in my work. It's not just the type of work that I want to do, but the kind of environment where I want to work in and the people I want to be surrounded by."
— NY Agricultural Stewardship Program Manager, American Farmland Trust
Attended: Reconnecting with Purpose, A Retreat Program for Farm and Food Systems Change Agents
Adrianne Traub
"This educational program directly benefited my quality of life. I learned a great deal about myself and how I can bring more of my whole-self to my food system development work. It helped me manage burnout and also identify areas of my work that I want to further pursue."
— Project Manager, Seven Valleys Health Coalition
Attended: Reconnecting with Purpose, A Retreat Program for Farm and Food Systems Change Agents
Bethany Wallis
"The program has given me permission to say yes to things that benefit myself as a whole person, not just the compartments I had been functioning in. In doing so it has also opened me to see things again and truly take time to appreciate the wonder and beauty around me."
— Former Director, NOFA NY
Attended: Reconnecting with Purpose, A Retreat Program for Farm and Food Systems Change Agents
Ñawi K. Flores
"Unlike other programs designed for networking and community building, Reconnecting with Purpose (RwP) open the space to honesty and trust at the individual and professional level. I have experienced that it is through this mechanism that we can relearn how to listen and regenerate empathy while slowing down in/our effort to be reactive in providing advice or trying to change the mind of others. Also, open and thoughtful questions create a sense of leaning on each other rather than feeling the burden, and these emotional, design thinking experiences help me improve my cultural competence talks."
— President & Co-Founder, K'ALLAM'P (Kah-jahm-pah)
Attended: Reconnecting with Purpose, A Retreat Program for Farm and Food Systems Change Agents
Lucy Spence
"The reconnecting with purpose program gave me incredible insight into the passion and strength of individuals in the food systems field. It also inspired me to become a productive member of this community to support and advocate for local food producers. Moreover, I feel less alone with many of the burdens I feel with this job and I feel as if I have the tools to help alleviate some of those burdens."
— SYRAP Program Director, Refugee & Immigrant Self-Empowerment (RISE)
Attended: Reconnecting with Purpose, A Retreat Program for Farm and Food Systems Change Agents
Maya Marie
"More so now than before I'm working towards just being. I'm passionate about the work I do and the folks I get to work with, but this program has supported my journey in taking a look at myself outside of productivity and external expectations."
— Lead Collaborator/Founder, Deep Roots Project
Attended: Reconnecting with Purpose, A Retreat Program for Farm and Food Systems Change Agents
