In preparation for our 2025 Spring Campaign, we reached out to some of our monthly donors to learn more about their heart for Barren Heights and why they choose to offer their financial support. The Edwards family was eager to respond and share about their Barren Heights experience!

Initially, I saw a friend post about attending a summer camp retreat with her husband and two sons. She highly recommended it and mentioned how encouraging and reinvigorating it was. At the time, we had been living back in Kentucky for less than a year, and I was still struggling to figure out how to find resources for our older daughter, and we didn’t really have any support network. Between that and raising our two young girls, I was feeling very overwhelmed and exhausted.

We attended a retreat that summer not knowing anything at all really about Barren Heights. I was blown away by the friendliness and helpfulness of the volunteers. They took a giant load off of us that weekend entertaining the girls so we could have a chance to relax and gave us a few moments together as a couple and with other moms and dads who were going through similar struggles.

With each event we attend, I appreciate Barren Heights more and more. I love that the kids are all accepted for who they are, and the volunteers anticipate any needs.  It’s a chance for us to let our guards down as parents because we know our kids will fit right in. I can always see God’s hand and how the team has prayed over the events. Whatever event we attend always seems to have exactly what we need at the moment (e.g. Christmas gifts our kids specifically asked for that morning in the Christmas Gift Shop, seated next to another parent who can point us toward a resource we need, a refreshing moment to reconnect with each other at HoliDate Night, etc.).

We benefit so much from Barren Heights, emotionally, spiritually, and honestly, sometimes even financially. Our kids’ birthdays are both really close to Christmas, and there was one Christmas when we had a lot of medical expenses and weren’t entirely sure how we were going to get our girls much of anything. Barren Heights’ Christmas Gift Shop was a lifesaver that year. We want to keep Barren Heights going and want more families to feel loved and supported like we do.

I have so many. I loved resting in a hammock at a retreat with my 2-year-old but also getting a moment away from my (very clingy at the time) 2-year-old while a group of young girls played with her. Kyle and I were in desperate need of a date night when we attended Couple’s Date Night at Top Golf, and the chance to reconnect was just what we needed. I loved seeing a young boy who volunteered at Ice Cream at the Park playing games with my daughter. He was so patient in figuring out what she wanted to do next despite her verbal challenges.