A Mothers Rest

This program is called our Porch Partners. It continues to be a success, as new partners come on and existing partners expand the number of weekends they offer to host. AMR acts as a third party booking service, and all funds received from guests are paid to the innkeepers directly (minus $15 for our General Fund to cover administrative and Paypal fees incurred). Our Signature Mommy & Me event at Jekyll Island Club Hotel hosted DOUBLE the families as last year. We are blessed with a generous donor who subsidizes the difference in cost at this beautiful, historic, 5-star hotel and resort in Coastal Georgia. We continued our partnership with Seas The Connection, an adoptive and foster parent retreat organizer in FL. We were blessed to take on a new partner in Ocean City, NJ, The Scarborough Inn, who hosts upwards of (10) retreats a year for our caregivers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. This is a larger B&B (29 rooms), so this location really helps us fill the gap for families in that region. Regrettably, we were not able to roll out the Me Time program as we hoped. It is just too much logistically and administratively to manage with our existing staff. Figures above reflect payments made by guests for a discounted room with these Porch Partners, as well as retreat refunds we issued due to erroneous booking, transfers, and financial hardship. ($11,580) Because we schedule into the fiscal year beyond, there will always show a surplus of funds that just have not been disbursed to the innkeepers.

Since September 2018, The Terrace Guest House & Respite Inn in New Market, MD has been filled every weekend, with an average waitlist of (10) caregivers. By year-end 2022, the TGH alone has served (1251) weary parents & caregivers. We only did one major capital improvement, which was to replace the remainder of our windows. As in years past, the majority of our funding for this inn comes from guest donations, recurring/monthly gifts, private donations, and group sponsorship (for private, diagnosis-specific weekends). We also received a grant from the Frederick County Community Foundation. Our innkeeper is working out well, and we have gradually increased her weekly payment to match the level in Georgia. In 2023, we need to repaint the exterior, replace rotting window sills, and replace the garage doors. We will seek another grant from the New Market Facade Program for that.

Since December of 2020, Lawton Place Manor in Mt. Airy, GA has been filled every weekend, with an average of (10) caregivers on the wait list. We schedule retreats approximately two years. By year-end 2022, the LPM alone has served (844) weary parents & caregivers. In 2022, we did several capital improvement projects, including replacing all of the windows in our Cottage, chimney repairs, and partial roof replacement. As in years past, the majority of our funding for this inn comes from guest donations, recurring/monthly gifts, private donations, and group sponsorship (for private, diagnosis-specific weekends). To date, we have not received any formal grants, but have been tremendously blessed by Lowes of Cornelia through their donations of materials and volunteers/skilled labor. With their help, we will build a new handicapped accessible ramp to the Manor House, a level walking deck from the house to the pool, pressure wash & re-paint the Cottage, and repair our Garage/storage structure. Lawton Place Manor was beautifully featured in a full color article in Georgia Magazine as well. We will apply again for a grant from the North Georgia Community Foundation in 2023. We hope to replace the rest of the windows in the Manor House as well, for the comfort of our guests and to help keep out insects and other critters.