Helping families heal and children dream posted 8/13/2009 3:31:17 PM | 11 kudos what's this?     report abuse

MrPaul

18 people Our first retreat was a awesome life changing experience, Families that have never met , special needs and abused children all coming together to share, to laugh, to relax and to heal. 3 days in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tenneessee. Home cooked meals, hot tubs and pool tables, cabins in the mountains, bonfires and childrens laughter filling the air, squirt gun fights, somores and the light of a child's soul as they laughed and played, children making new friends and being accepted as thy are. Dinner theaters, Ripleys Aquarium, Aviation Museum and all the love a child could desire . Thank you everyone for your support and prayers. Together we can make a difference in a child's life. Pictures of our retreat click here A interview by the local radio station and a write up in the local paper We are on our way to make a difference.







Rainbow Retreat reaches for mountaintop

By Ellen Brown
{email address removed}
Aug 12,2009



Paul Green has worked with special needs children for 20 years, having served as a foster parent, working for the Department of Family and Children Services and directing child care centers.

His latest venture is Children's Rainbow Mountain Retreat,a non profit charity which he hopes to build in Pigeon Forge to provide children with life-threatening illnesses, disabilities or severe traumatic experiences the opportunity to break free from their challenges. The retreat will be free for the children and their immediate families due to support from generous sponsors.

"I've always enjoyed working with children," said Green, the retreat's executive director. "Having children is stressful anyway, and having children with special needs is even more so. This is not just a vacation — it's actual therapy for the children, and it's an opportunity to network and offer support among the parents."

Children's Rainbow Mountain Retreat hosted its first group with four families (18 people) last weekend in the Smoky Mountains, Green reported.

"All of the families were from Tennessee, but eventually we would like to do this for people nationwide," he said. "We leased two cabins and picked up the families Thursday morning and got them settled in."

Retreat activities included cookouts and marshmallow roasts, as well as trips to Smith Family Theater, The Miracle Theater, Ripley's Aquarium, Tennessee Museum of Aviation, Flying Horse Grill and Starbucks, which are all sponsors of the program.

"We've had wonderful support," Green said. "I came here over a year ago and started talking to people about what we wanted to do."

Green, a Melbourne, Fla., resident, hopes to move to the Pigeon Forge area permanently once his organization has raised enough for its retreat headquarters.

"Word of mouth is how this first group heard about the retreat," he said. "One of the most amazing things was just watching the families bond. A family with four children said it was the first time they had been on vacation, so they were fine with just staying in the cabin. The parents said they've never seen their children so relaxed — they were just being kids."

He also recalled one young girl who had been physically abused. At the beginning of the retreat, she was shy and withdrawn. Green proudly showed a video of the girl, filmed later during the retreat, on his laptop: She's hula-hooping, smiling ear-to-ear on stage at Smith Family Theater.

"She really came out of her shell. She had a great time."

Green, who has a masters degree in counseling and a doctorate in education, hopes Children's Rainbow Mountain Retreat will eventually be able to host 15 families during a three- to five-day retreat.

"The better we can make their future, the better it will be for our future."

For more information or to make a donation to Children's Rainbow Mountain Retreat, visit www.childrensrainbow.com or call 1 888-666-7604.

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