Love Wins While Honoring When Honoring Women

On Saturday April 13th, we hosted our 2nd Annual Flourish Ladies Luncheon, an event designed to highlight female veterans, active duty military, and the spouses and widows of veterans and military members. We had almost 40 ladies in attendance at the Concord Room in Troy. Our Director Valerie welcomed the group and explained the ice breaker activity. Before we knew it, the room was full of conversation and laughter while the ladies broke into groups based on the stickers on their name tags, answering questions like ‘Who would you add to Mt Rushmore?’ and ‘What was the worst haircut you ever had?’ After about 10 minutes, everyone took their seats again, and each group’s spokesperson shared a few answers with the group, leading to even more laughter as stories were shared about Dorothy Hamill haircuts and adding Dorothy Parton to Mt Rushmore.

After our icebreaker, it was time for lunch! We had a delicious spread from Montage Cafe again this year, at the request of many of our ladies. Everyone who attended got the sandwich of their choice, along with several salads. Lunch passed quickly, with even more conversation filling the room, while music played thanks to DJ Marrs.

After lunch, it was time to hear from our speaker, Jill White. Jill is a Licensed Social Worker with a Masters of Science degree in Mental Health counseling from the University of Dayton. Jill’s experience encompasses many aspects of marriage and family counseling including parenting, adoption, divorce, reconciliation, abuse, children’s issues and angry teens. She is also a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. She spoke to the ladies gathered about the importance of leading with love in relationships, as well as communication and honesty.

We took a brief break, and then it was time for desserts and crafting! The ladies made sugar scrubs from a variety of essential oils. We used organic cane sugar, jojoba oil, and coconut oil to create the base of the scrubs, and everyone was able to scent the scrubs. There were lots of conversation around memories the scents brought to the service. When not making the scrubs, the ladies hit the dessert bar!

While everyone was crafting and snacking, we had our door prize drawings. We had lots of great items donated by some very generous businesses, and every woman in attendance left with their choice!