Chat with Cat: Get Out (in Montreat)! + Giveaway Winners

Today is the first day of school for many children in the Asheville area and across the state. It's been exciting to see my friends who are teachers (and my friends who are parents) preparing for this week. And now the end of summer is here.

But don't forget all the wonderful opportunities available in Montreat during the remaining nine months of the year! We have all sorts of wonderful retreats and conferences planned for this fall, and we are well into booking events for next spring.

We are also starting a new program this fall, which will be offered primarily to local school groups. We don't have all the details yet, but this offering with focus on environmental, outdoor and leadership education. Teachers and administrators will have the option of signing up their classes for a field trip or maybe even an overnight retreat.

Montreat is an ideal place for kids to get out of the classroom and into creation, experiencing our wide variety of plant and animal life, as well as our 2,000+ acres of wilderness. Groups can hike, camp, identify, classify, wade and explore--all while learning about earth science, conservation and even leadership and teambuilding.

And leading this new project is Jason Nanz, who has worked at Montreat Conference Center as one of our summer rangers for the past five years and who has many more years of expertise as an outdoorsman. Be on the lookout for an official announcement and introduction to Jason soon!

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In other news, we now have the winners of our "Be a FAN of Montreat" Giveaway! (drumroll please...)

From our blog entries, the winner of an "I Heart Montreat" T-shirt and Montreat hat is an anonymous entrant who wrote:

"I can safely say, Montreat and I are woven into the same fabric. 20 consecutive youth conferences, 6 music conferences, two nieces who worked there this summer, one for the fourth time, my brothers and I sponsored a pew in Anderson during the Firm the Foundation campaign as a memorial to my parents, and finally Mom's and Dad's ashes are interred in the Memorial Garden. Merely driving through the stone gate feeds my soul. i.e., consider me a fan for life."

If you are this anonymous FAN, please email me (catw@montreat.org) ASAP to claim your prize!

From our Twitter entries, the winner of an "I Heart Montreat" T-shirt and Montreat mug is @danwboles, who wrote:

"@montreat #iheartmontreat the most because no matter why Im there/what I'm doing/who Im with: God is there, & Im at peace. Its my sanctuary."

Thank you so much to everyone who told us why they are a FAN of Montreat! And don't forget you can always send us feedback here on the blog, on Facebook or Twitter, or through email.

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Cat is the Sales Associate at Montreat Conference Center. She loves helping people plan the perfect Montreat Experience and would love to hear from you about how this blog can help you.

Cat can be reached at catw@montreat.org.