These Central MD Businesses are Thriving Today

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Laurie Reuben, a volunteer, left, and Wendy Letow, executive director of Respite Retreats, pack supplies into a virtual retreat box. (TBM/Jason Whong)

For Wendy Letow, the interruption of her nonprofit career to address family health challenges seems a distant memory.

Her former nonprofit, Little Things for Cancer, merged with Zaching Against Cancer “about eight years ago,” said Letow, after she stepped back “because I was the primary caregiver to my mother, who had cancer. However, I started Respite Retreats in June 2018 and held two retreats before the pandemic.”

Then, like many organizations, she had to reboot. But it ended up providing a revelation.

“We opted to offer virtual programs,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how they would go over, but they expanded our reach tenfold” as clients who were suddenly from all around the U.S. shared experiences while meditating, journaling, reciting poetry and/or working on art projects, etc. all in one 4.5 hour Zoom.

Respite Retreats had to lay off employees when the pandemic hit, “but we’ve moved forward,” said Letow, and in a big way: its budget has soared from $250,000 to $400,000, and its patronage jumped dramatically, hopefully from 100 community members before COVID-19 to (she hopes) 1,000 members nationwide by December 2023. The nonprofit also moved into new space at 6021 University Boulevard, with the grand opening set for Feb. 22.