What started out as an overnight get-together for four close friends has grown into an annual women’s retreat.  In 1996, Cheryl Bowie hosted a sleepover in her apartment.  The goal of the evening was for her friends to escape their daily responsibilities and schedules and just relax and decompress!  It was her gift to them.  Each guest brought a dish for the evening meal, and Ms. Bowie cooked breakfast for them the next morning.  The ladies’ version of relaxing and decompressing was to find the nearest corner, grab a magazine, and simply lose themselves into blessed solitude..

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The next morning everyone who attended left feeling so rejuvenated that the experience became an annual event.   Each year, typically during the month of February, the increasing number of attendees enjoyed an evening, now called RRR girls night out, of “chewing and chatting”, along with hilarious icebreaker games, a female entrepreneur promoting her business or craft, massage therapy, and the candlelight release session.

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The one-night event was enlarged in the fall of 2006 to encompass the first full weekend retreat.  Meeting on the beautiful Jekyll Island, Georgia beachfront, 26 ladies gathered for an Agape Feast Friday night. Saturday, was a day full of wellness workshops which addressed topics such as the need for rest, journaling and stress management.  The capstone event was a candlelight release session Saturday evening with a live poetry reading by Ms. Daneea Badio, the winner of the 2006 TLC Channel’s reality TV competition, "The Messenger".

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In the years to follow, RRR would retreat on the beautiful island of Nassau, Bahamas, Majestic Beach Resort in Panama City, Fl, and Beth Shalom in West Hempstead, NY.

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