All women affiliated with First Parish, whether members or friends, are welcome to attend the retreat. Typically, as many as thirty women gather for quiet meditation, reflection, laughter and conversation at St. James House in Tiverton, Rhode Island, a lovely estate on the Sakonnet River. There are some programmed activities as well as abundant unscheduled time. Retreat brochures are available in early April. Space is usually limited and reservations must be made early.
Scholarship funds are available.
Again this year, First Parish will host the 24-woman a capella chorus called Olympia's Daughters. This is their second visit to First Parish. They have also sung at the Unitarian Universalist General Assemblies in Rochester, New York, and Nashville, Tennessee. They have issued several CDs. The Empty Bowls Project, sponsored by the Religious Education Committee, is a fundraising project for an area food bank, where people gather to have a simple meal in hand made ceramic bowls, and reflect on their good fortune, and world hunger.