FEATURES: Working moms call a retreat

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With their children gathered around them, two working moms plan a getaway retreat at Stella Niagara Center of Renewal Retreat and Conference Center. The children include from left: Isabella Renzi, 6, Colton Meyer, 12, Trevor Meyer, 6, and Amber Meyer, 9. Sofia Renzi, 2, is behind her mother Karen Renzi of Youngstown. Denuelle Meyer of Pendleton is at right.

March 8, 2010

By Michele Deluca The Niagara Gazette Mon Mar 08, 2010, 05:17 PM EST

It is a secret only some women seem to know.

Unless you make time for yourself, you are diminishing your own capabilities to be your best self, according to two area women planning a retreat getaway for working moms.

The two moms have decided to share their need for creative space and sisterhood by creating a retreat called “Work, Life, Me: A Balancing Retreat for Working Mothers.

“I’m a life coach and I work with women everyday to help them find balance with all the hats they wear,” said Denuelle Meyer of Pendelton who also has a masters degree in mental health counseling. “Many of them are of the sandwich generation so they are also raising their children and helping care for their parents,”

Renzi, who runs a web marketing company with her husband, Alessandro Renzi, had been wanting to create a retreat for women for some time. She was teaching a class at Niagara University that Meyer had signed up for. When the two met, they express a shared desire to help women step away. Both women were participating in online communities, but they had found nothing locally to help moms who work.

“I am involved in a lot of women’s business organizations and there’s not a lot of support in place for working moms and mom entrepreneurs,” Renzi said.

When the two decided to plan a retreat for women, they brainstormed on what to offer that might meet women’s needs. Meyer said that the women she coaches seem to have three main concerns: Money, organization and health. The retreat offerings were created around those concerns.

The retreat center, a former convent, has simple but comfortable rooms with one or two beds. There is also a library and loft available for women to spend time chatting with friends or simply taking time out.

“We’re going to make sure women know they should come dressed comfortably in jeans or sweatpants,” said Renzi.

“We want them to come and just to be,” added Meyer. “So they can really absorb the day for themselves. That’s the take away, without any expectations.”

Both women are looking forward to the retreat for their own personal benefit. “I love the expression we teach what we learn,” Meyer said. There will even be enough time for an afternoon nap, they said.

The retreat is also being sponsored by the American Business Women’s Niagara Falls Chapter and the Stella Niagara Center of Renewal.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Working mothers retreat

WHEN: March 27-28

WHERE: Center of Renewal Retreat and Conference Center, 4421 Lower River Road, Stella Niagara

n MORE INFO: Karen Renzi, 304-1925 or visit balanceworklifeme.com

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