The Shanti Norris Cancer Retreat Fund was launched in May 2017 as a lasting tribute to Founding Executive Director Shanti Norris’ 21 years of service to Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. This fund supports Smith Center’s most intimate, transformative and pioneering work, our Cancer Retreats, which was the program dearest to her heart and the foundation for Smith Center’s work.
The retreats, often lauded as our “best work,” create a safe and caring environment for individuals challenged by cancer to deepen their healing as they explore living with their illness in a new way. All contributions to the fund will offset the cost of the retreats for cancer survivors and their caregivers and will also enable us to continue offering partial scholarship assistance. By naming this fund for Shanti, we honor all she has done for Smith Center and celebrate her passion and commitment to our mission and the cancer community.
Smith Center has been offering Cancer Retreats since 1996—and they are still the core and the heart of all we do. Retreats offer a respite from everyday life with a cancer diagnosis and an opportunity to be fully immersed in healing. The goal of our retreats is to empower participants to make life-affirming changes by providing tools and knowledge in a safe and caring community of others facing a cancer diagnosis. Participants — cancer survivors and their caregivers — experience the healing power integrative and complementary therapies, group support, yoga and other relaxation techniques, delicious whole-foods meals, therapeutic massage, expressive arts and the opportunity to connect with those on a similar journey of healing.
You can find more information about upcoming retreats HERE.
