With a Little Help from our Friends
We had less than two months to pull off the Beautifully Flawed Retreat and we did it. There are very few of us that make up the staff of this foundation, but there’s an entire team of people that is meant by “we.” The volunteers, sponsors, and corporate support that make this and every retreat possible is who we celebrate in this feat because it would be impossible without them. Not only did we pull it off, but it was as beautiful of a retreat as ever and our support system didn’t hold back.
Hosted on the beautiful North Shore of Kauai, our 13 participants had a fully intimate experience on the “Garden Island.” A blend of new and returning attendees, three of these young women have lost their limbs within the past year and have experienced this trauma in an unprecedented time of the global pandemic and lockdowns. We elevated three junior leaders to take on mentorship roles as they grow in their calling to speak up and encourage others. There were more than 20 total in-person volunteers to help us and love on the girls!
Our sponsors didn’t withhold on showering our girls with beautiful welcoming packages with more than a dozen different items including beauty products, designer Bibles, jewelry, custom sandals, beach towels, backpacks and more! The girls enjoyed a full week of activities and group discussions to explore the limits of their capabilities and reflect on the deep character growth that their tragedy has led them on. They learned a lot about resilience. And best of all, they fostered and ignited lifelong friendships!
From canoes to crafts, hula to surf, exercise, beach days, ice baths and all of the incredible meals between, it was a busy week! The many perspectives that approach this retreat are as unique as the people that this event brings together, so we’ve decided to do the storytelling through them:
For the First Time
Losing a limb is never easy. Each story we’ve ever heard has a uniquely tragic element that pulls at a deep place. Yet in the same manner, each story we’ve ever heard has a unique element of hope.
Taylor Grill just graduated high school. She will go to South Dakota State University in the Fall of this year to study pre-veterinary science. She played Varsity volleyball through her senior year and loves her friends. Like many people, she struggled with the solitude of lockdowns due to the global pandemic but unlike many people, her isolation was magnified by a limb loss just as COVID-19 came on the international scene. The week before her 17th birthday, Taylor lost her arm in February of 2020 in a head-on collision with a semi truck.
“I thought I was about to die,” said Taylor.
By a miracle, Taylor survived and so did her younger brother in the passenger seat. But the hardest part about Taylor’s story came came in the months following her accident in a hospital far from home and far from friends. The seeming untimeliness of Taylor’s amputation and subsequent surgeries and hospitalization collided with the first panic of the coronavirus lockdowns. She was permitted few visitors in her already isolated cell in Denver, Colorado and her return home a month later didn’t get much better as school went online. Her only social interactions through a screen, the sense of loneliness hit deeper than most.
As Taylor went through her healing journey, however, she seems to have always carried a sense of hope. Knowing that others had lost limbs and “figured it out,” she knew that she would, too – and that she did. Completing her senior year, Taylor figured out how to play Varsity volleyball with just one arm. In fact, she says she plays even better now than before and more than tripled the statistics of her serving percentage.
“After I lost my arm it really made me have to think about what I’m doing, more than just going through the motions,” she said. “My perspective of volleyball really changed.”
And in many of the same ways, her perspective on life changed, too.
As a new participant to the Beautifully Flawed Retreat, Taylor says that she realized how much of her experience was shared with others and even put into view that the deep struggles and pain that others have faced. Knowing that the endurance through these things is possible, she’s realized a whole new level of her character and spirit.
“This retreat made me open my eyes,” says Taylor. “I never realized how strong and brave going through something like this makes you until now. I’ve gone through this so obviously there’s no way that I can’t get through anything else. I can basically do anything or at least I can try.”
Nothing Lost
Kali was a first time attendee in 2019 and has been waiting to come back ever since. She had battled a long journey of pain and infections with her below-knee amputation and undergone more than 15 revision surgeries by the time we met her. Coming to the retreat, she realized something was terribly wrong with her circumstances.
For most people, it’s considered a big win to keep the knee or elbow in an amputation surgery – “lucky,” even. But for Kali, it hardly felt that way at all, though she hardly had considered that she might elect to lose what she was told was such good fortune. But after a process of long process of reflection in the following year, she elected to have an above-knee amputation in November that she says opened her eyes to the ways in which God uses loss to make things better.
But Kali remembers a much darker time – grim, she says.
Just after freshman year, Kali was struck by a car while riding a dirt bike and became an amputee at just 15 years old. Noticing a lack of representation in popular culture of people with disabilities, the only identity she noticed with any platform was in professional adaptive athletes. She says that the prospect that this was her only option killed her love of sports. Though she wanted to study to be a teacher, she was no longer sure if she could have a career or someday marry and have kids.
But observing the leaders of the Beautifully Flawed Retreat in 2019, she realized that wasn’t the case.
“It opened my eyes that people still live normal lives,” said Kali. “It changed the entire course of my life in having confidence about the way I am.”
This revelation has lead Kali to now be near graduation for her degree in Elementary education. She’s a confident leader and knows who she is and where she’s headed. It’s why we asked her to be a Junior Leader of our 2020 retreat to lead group discussions and serve as a mentor to younger attendees.
“I’ve always had the idea that I want to help people,” said Kali. “Being a Junior Leader shifted my perspective this year that I need to explore youth ministry in becoming a teacher.”
Kali’s joy and confidence is as palpable as it is contagious and we are encouraged to have been a part of her transformational journey leading her to influence the power of others.
Saying Yes
When Sarah Hill set the theme of this retreat upon the topic of “resilience,” she probably didn’t expect to be as tested in this quality as she did herself. God often uses the very things we aim to give others as a message back to ourselves and as a staff, we are proud of the leadership placed at the head of this foundation.
She won’t tell you herself, but Sarah says yes to more commitments than most. She’s not a workaholic, though – she’s a serve-aholic, if that’s a thing. She goes above and beyond to serve the communities around her… and beyond. She operates multiple youth ministry programs on the island of Kauai and has done so since she was a teen, making herself known locally for her compassion. She serves on administrative boards to impact change in nonprofit work and of course, she heads this organization.
Having as much yes-ness as Sarah does can come with a lot of disappointments. Most others don’t carry the tenacity of faithfulness that she does, which means that some people drop off much sooner than she does in the long-haul of ministry. Though we had many partners and beacons of support in this retreat, it was Sarah’s ability to persevere through adversity that allowed her to speak with the authority given her at all.
From packaging gifts to rearranging furniture, arranging decor and hanging lights to create a welcoming ambience, Sarah’s love for our participants is demonstrated in her detailed acts of service. She knows how to make something beautiful and this applies to a lot more than physical aesthetic – she’s a deep explorer of the human heart.
When asked her own experience of the retreat, Sarah won’t bring up her “favorite moment” or a personal highlight, per se. It’s not because she’s disengaged; it’s because she wasn’t focused on herself to begin with. Her reflections are on the stories of the participants – of who she saw change, of how a girl stepped into the light and of how God worked in His grace and glory to give purpose to the pain of all who entered this experience.
Full Circle
Jen Reichart’s life might be hard to understand by most. In fact without a biblical lens, it might be thought ludicrous. Jen and her husband, Matt, are going through the adoption process of their 8th child and they don’t seem to be particularly set about being done, yet. They open their hearts and home in a way that most people could never fathom.
Jen and Matt live in a small town outside of Pittsburg, Virginia where the operate a full-time ministry for inner city youth by bringing them into the wilderness for outdoor activities and exposure to the Gospel message of faith, love and salvation. They live what seems a very beautiful life, but it hasn’t come without struggle. Nearly 10 years ago, their oldest daughter Jada was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and what started as a limp lead to an above-knee amputation just 6 weeks later.
“We [Matt and I] pretty much lived separately at that time,” said Jen. “One of us was at the hospital and we worked as a team so that we could make the best for the kids at home.”
After surgery and an additional six rounds of chemotherapy, Jada had beat the cancer but it hasn’t come without its challenges in a secluded community to live with a limb loss. Jada attended our retreat as a first time attendee, reserved and withdrawn. But something changed.
“Even as I look at photos now, I can see how she spent a lot of time alone at the beginning of camp,” said Jen. “But by the end of camp, she was having a lot more fun with the other girls.”
Jen says the key was the relationship built with Sarah Hill.
“Sarah got her at a deep level, I don’t know how to explain it,” said Jen. “But it’s something really special when someone else is able to see in your child what you see.”
Although it was Jada’s first time at the Beautifully Flawed Retreat, it wasn’t her first time to meet Bethany. Jada actually met her at 9 years old on a trip to Kauai where she first experienced the opportunity to surf with Mike Coots, too. But it wasn’t until this May that she finally stood up on her own.
“When I saw her from the beach, I knew that it was a full circle, healing moment for us,” said Jen. “She had overcome.
A Beachside Friend
Dana and Sarah clicked at a fundraiser dinner party in 2018 and have been friends since. Dana, an entrepreneur and owner of 13 restaurants between California and Hawaii, has also become a dear friend to this organization and has been a staple of support for our retreats. As the founder of Duke’s – an atmospheric restaurant inspired by surf culture and the spirit of Hawaii – it just seemed to fit, she says.
“I got to hear the story and I thought it was such a great idea,” said Dana. “I was delighted to participate on a personal level as much as I was as a business.”
Dana’s involvement has ranged from serving in the food line to helping with surf day and most recently, hosting our participants at the Kauai retreat with a beautiful beachside luncheon as an extension of Duke’s philanthropic entity known as the Legacy of Aloha. Dana has also been a significant financial contributor to these retreats, helping to fund scholarships for participants and covering the costs of hosting this week long event.
On our retreat “beach day”, the girls got a full Hawaii shore experience full of canoes, snorkeling, paddle boarding and sun bathing. To follow up the fun, they took just a few steps off of the shoreline to a private tent set up on the front lawn of Duke’s complete with a multi-course meal and customized menu!
“We love to be a part of community,” said Dana on behalf of Duke’s. “But I will personally keep supporting in any way I can!”
The love, care and attention to details provided by manager Derek Kessler and the staff at Duke’s Kauai was more than we could ask for – Mahalo!
Mahalo to Our Sponsors
Thank you to the following corporate sponsors who have already made direct contributions towards our upcoming retreat! We couldn’t do this without the support of:
Make Incredible Things Happen
Help further our mission and programs that support young people living with limb difference or those who’ve experienced traumatic limb loss by making a tax-deductible donation.
Mahalo to Our Sponsors
Thank you to the following corporate sponsors who have already made direct contributions towards our upcoming retreat! We couldn’t do this without the support of:
- Certified Brands Group
- Cobian
- Dukes
- Fjallraven Kanken
- Mae Cargo Jewelry
- Pain Free Kauai
- Primal Kitchen
- Rank Up Academy
- RX Smart Gear
- San Diego Picnic
- YETI
- Feast on This
- Hakus and Love
- Health Ade
- Hoa Kai
- LinkSoul
- Love Handle
- Now Foods
- Point One Vision
- Rustico
- Blender Bombs
- Crossway
- Gnarly Nutrition
- Greenhouse Foods
- Greyston Bakery
- Kokua Suncare
- Mo’s Dough
- Nooty
- PalmDream
- Paper Sunday
- Surfwater
- Palmdream
- Ponyback
