How do you cure cabin fever in the middle of a pandemic? You go camping of course!!!
When residents were asked to make a list of activities they were interested in doing, one item immediately jumped out to Marian House Executive Director, Katie Allston. Many of the residents wanted to go camping.
Katie is an avid camper as well as a Girl Scout troop leader and agreed to take a small group of residents on an overnight camping trip in early October. Equipped with tents, sleeping bags, and plenty of food, a group of 10 took the Marian House bus to Patapsco State Park in Baltimore County.
Once they arrived at the State Park and set-up their camp, they took a long hike, accompanied by Katie’s dog Piper. Most of the women had never been camping before and some had hesitations and fears about wildlife that they might encounter. Once they pitched their tents and started a campfire, they felt more at ease. Some residents and staff did not spend the night but participated in the hike and campfire before heading back to Marian House. This could become an annual excursion!
Cate Hutson is a 17-year-old senior at Towson High School. She runs track and cross country and also participates in the school’s Model Congress. She’s taking the virtual start to her senior year in stride and is focused on college application essays to mid-Atlantic schools with programs in biology and public health.
Cate heard about Marian House through her mother and a partner organization as she was exploring opportunities to work with people. After two years of thorough planning, Cate brought 23 volunteers out over 4 days in late July to clean and beautify the small, private playground behind the Notre Dame Residence at our Independence Place Campus in Pen Lucy, and spruced up some adjacent plant beds at the Independence Place campus. She acquired the tools and materials, as well as the people power, to remove trash and weeds, clean playground equipment, trim back vines and trees, replace gravel and rotted landscape timbers, install a drainage system and spread new mulch.
Saché grew up in a tight-knit family in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore. She is the oldest of 5 siblings, with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. She had her first drink at the age of fifteen, but it wasn’t until she was twenty-two that she began to abuse alcohol as a means to cope with the abusive relationship she was in. After multiple attempts, Saché was finally able to leave her abusive partner, but the addiction to alcohol had developed into a vicious cycle in her life. Over and over, period s of sobriety and stability would be followed by relapse, loss of job and home. Another attempt at recovery would eventually end in relapse, and the cycle continued.