Someone is on their way here, carrying more than they can name. You can make sure rest is waiting.
Your gift before June 30 helps restore the Woodland Hermitage and keeps St. Mary’s Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development ready to welcome the next person who comes up this mountain looking for rest.
“I came here weary, too.”
When I first came to St. Mary’s, I was carrying a year I needed to release. I had lost a job I loved, and I was tired in a way sleep couldn’t fix. I came here and walked the labyrinth on the grounds. With each step, I set something down. By the time I reached the center, I had quieted enough to listen. I walked out of the labyrinth able to leave behind what I no longer needed, and in touch with my authentic self.
I have since learned I am not unique. People come up this mountain carrying all kinds of things they can’t always put words to: fatigue, grief, the strain of being needed by everyone at once. St. Mary’s Sewanee welcomes them, gives them quiet and a heartfelt welcome, and sends them home changed. What I didn’t realize that first morning is that the path was clear and my room was ready because people I had not yet met had cared for this place before I ever needed it.
Kara Lassen Oliver, Executive Director
Rest like this doesn’t keep itself.
Sacred quiet doesn’t happen just because a building sits in the woods. It happens because someone keeps the Hermitage cared for, the rooms made up, the meals cooked, the grounds tended, and the welcome warm. When that work falls behind, a tired person arrives at a place that can’t quite receive them. Your gift keeps the door open.
“When I arrive at St. Mary’s, it’s like a burden rolls off my shoulders. I leave with light in my heart and a sense of renewal.”
How your gift helps
Give before June 30, once or every month.
Your gift restores the Woodland Hermitage and keeps the daily welcome going.
Someone you will never meet steps out of the noise and finally takes a breath.
This year, the goal is $100,000 by June 30. Half restores the Hermitage. Half maintains the hospitality and care of this sacred place. Your gift is what turns that number into a real welcome for a real person.
Think about who you are making room for.
Maybe it’s a caregiver who is running on empty. Maybe it’s someone carrying a grief they haven’t had room to feel, or a leader who is closer to burnout than anyone around them knows. They don’t know about St. Mary’s Sewanee yet. But it will be here when they need it, because people like you made sure of it. Give today, and the next person who arrives worn down will find what so many of us have found here: room to breathe, time to listen, and a way home that feels lighter.