Seeking Support for a Healing Retreat Overcoming Adversity

Shanell Odum Start Date: Dec 16, 2024 - End Date: Feb 23, 2025
  • Jamaica
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Costa Rica
  • Saint Lucia
  • Tanzania, Ghana
  • Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
  • The Bahamas

My Travel Story

by: Shanell Odum Start Date: Dec 16, 2024 - End Date: Feb 23, 2025
I am writing to request financial assistance to support a wellness-focused vacation that I believe is essential for my mental and emotional well-being. This opportunity would provide a much-needed mental health reset after enduring significant personal and familial challenges. Over the past two years, I have faced immense adversity, including mental and financial abuse during my marriage, which ultimately led me to make the difficult decision to have my husband vacated from our home. Following this decision, I found myself and my three children living in a domestic violence (DV) shelter due to an inability to afford rent on my own. 
Living in the DV shelter required me to adjust to a transitional lifestyle, navigating court hearings for child custody while simultaneously striving to provide stability for my children. Despite these hardships, I remained committed to my education and personal growth. This fall, I successfully completed my semester at Dutchess Community College, earning grades of 80 or above in all my courses. I am determined to finish my spring semester with similar success as I pursue a degree in social work—a career path inspired by my experiences and a desire to help others in vulnerable situations. 
I am grateful to share that I have recently been approved for subsidized transitional housing and plan to move on January 1st. This milestone marks a new beginning for my family and me, and I want to prepare myself mentally and emotionally for this transition. I aim to focus on settling into my new home during this time. However, I would like to utilize my mid-semester recess, from March 14th to March 20th, 2025, as an opportunity for a wellness retreat. This timing would allow me to recharge during the academic semester without disrupting my responsibilities as a student and mother. 
My dream is to visit a warm-weather, adults-only, all-inclusive wellness resort, where I can fully immerse myself in relaxation and healing. Destinations such as Bali, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Tanzania, and Mexico are particularly appealing due to their serene environments and focus on holistic well-being. While I am open to other locations, my priority is finding a safe and rejuvenating space to reset mentally and physically. 
A grant to support this wellness trip would provide an opportunity to process the traumas I have endured and embrace this fresh start with clarity and focus. It would also serve as an investment in my ability to continue succeeding academically and as a single parent who shoulders the full responsibility of raising three children. 
  • Jamaica
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Costa Rica
  • Saint Lucia
  • Tanzania, Ghana
  • Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
  • The Bahamas