One Mission Ferry Beach Retreat

Ferry Beach Retreat & Conference Center – Saco, ME

Join us this summer to connect and heal with other families that have a child recovering from cancer.

Kids activities provided by the amazing Camp Casco Counselors:

We understand that when a child is diagnosed with cancer, the burden befalls the entire family. Parents, siblings, pets, and loved ones experience a great deal of stress, sadness, and pain. The seemingly endless treatments, surgeries and scans can leave the patient and family feeling anxious, vulnerable, even defeated. But we also know that the fight against cancer can also be an empowering one, especially for survivors.

At Rett’s Roost, we hope to create a joyful, fearless, empathetic space for families to relax, renew, and lament after months or years in a hospital environment. We focus on mindful, positive living through healthy bodies, minds, and spirits. Our hope is to offer families facing the post-treatment world ways to ease their anxieties for the future, reintegrate back into their pre-cancer lives, and find moments of joy and gratitude in their daily lives.

Retreat details: Eight families will be invited to join this carefully curated, healing retreat. At Ferry Beach Retreat Center, each family will have their own dormitory style bedroom(s). Bathrooms are shared. The house we will stay in together is a 2-minute walk to the sandy shore and lapping waves of the Atlantic. A handicap-accessible room is available–request early. Ferry Beach staff will be providing delicious, healthy meals & snacks in their dining room (across the way from the lodging house). We will have full days of optional activities to connect with others and to heal within, such as art, music, yoga, games, and nature experiences.

Does my family qualify? For this retreat, we accept families that have a child who has been through cancer treatment and currently is NED (no evidence of disease) or has stable disease (maintenance treatment). We do not have medical staff onsite for children requiring frequent interventions. However, there is an emergency room within 15 minutes and Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital is 30 minutes away. You must live within the 6 New England states or NY or NJ to apply. We give out small travel stipends to those coming from over 1-hour away. Our retreats are best suited for children between the ages of 4-15, however, we do welcome families with older and younger children.

DEI:  Rett’s Roost retreats are nondenominational. We act, and ask our participants to act, without discriminating against any person or organization because of their race, age, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or religious belief.

The application period for this retreat will open up no later than 2/22/24.

If you are new to Rett’s Roost, and would like to be notified first when we are accepting applications, please fill out this form to get on our mailing list for families of survivors:

Check out photo albums from last years’ retreats at Ferry Beach: 2022 Photos, 2023 Photos

General info about our retreats

Get in touch for more details or sign up to volunteer for this retreat!

Camp Casco 2024 Offerings

Also be sure to check out Camp Casco’s summer programs for childhood cancer patients, survivors, and siblings in New England! Their free camps and community-building programs help kids affected by childhood cancer create lasting friendships, increase self-esteem, try new things, get silly, and have fun. All programs take place in Massachusetts and have medical professionals onsite at all times. Learn more and apply today: www.campcasco.org/programs

2024 Camp Sessions:

• One Mission Day Camp: July 1-5, 2024, Wellesley MA. For childhood cancer patients, survivors, and siblings ages 6-12.

• Sibling Camp: August 5-10, 2024, Hinsdale MA. For brothers or sisters of kids who have ever been diagnosed with cancer, ages 9-17. (Bereaved siblings are welcome)
• Overnight Camp: August 19-24, 2024, Groton MA. For childhood cancer patients & survivors, ages 7-17.

Contact:
Krystin Whitacre
Email: attend@campcasco.org
Call: 857-302-2726 x 2