The Beginning

There are moments in life when you come to a crossroad, wondering where to go next with your life. Our sister, Cathy (Glavan) Schulze, hit a crossroad following her first battle with Breast Cancer. After months of treatments, doctor’s appointments, cards and letters, support from other people, it was time to re-enter her normal life, but as a cancer patient this created a dilemma. What is “normal”? Cathy’s search led to the development of Healing Opportunities through Personal Enrichment (HOPE) Retreat™ for Breast Cancer Survivors. A retreat she designed to help women reflect, candidly discuss their experience, identify positive changes, and celebrate survivors’ courage.

Three Sisters

They’re known as the Mary C’s: Mary Catherine, Mary Claudia and Mary Cynthia. Cathy, the youngest of the three, created her vision of HOPE through designing the workbook and weekend retreat. The Mary C’s got together to brainstorm and to make Cathy’s dream of a HOPE Retreat a reality. Each sister contributed their own talents and abilities to HOPE. Together they accomplished what neither could do alone. The three sisters were set to create HOPE.

The HOPE Retreat

Explore. Empower. Enrich.

The HOPE Retreat gives each survivor a place to grieve, heal, laugh, cry, grow, and leave believing she is stronger than when she arrived.  Over a four day weekend, participants come together for what we believe is a combination of a soul-searching experience and a healing spa escape. It is our goal and hope that each sister survivor has the opportunity to explore their feelings, empower themselves, and enrich their lives through group discussion, workbook activities, pampering and relaxation.
More information about the HOPE Retreat

Our Loss

After Cathy passed away at the age of 42 on April 3, 2004, it became clear that her vision of a nonprofit organization to help women must live on.
Sisters HOPE will continue Cathy’s legacy of touching so many lives in such a positive light with every new retreat and each new survivor.