Mountain Cajun Getaway
Phone number : 304-567-3553
Email: mcgwvla@gmail.com
Located in Circleville, WV. Call for directions. Mountain-Cajun Getaway’s (MCG) Family Reunification retreats provide veteran
families with a one-week stay, including accommodations, all meals, and various on-site and off-site activities. Situated in remote Circleville, WV, our 100+-year-old farmhouse and our nearby 135 wooded acres is the ideal escape for families from the daily demands of life so they can focus on each other. The Annals of Tourism Research study published in 2009 found that family vacations contribute to “family bonding, communication, and solidarity.” Game nights, campfires, gardening, hunting, and family dinners rekindle memories of the time they had pre-deployment and build new and lasting memories they can carry forward with them for years to come. Other nearby activities include fishing and hiking.
A recent study conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) found during the COVID-19 pandemic, people reported using fishing for “stress relief, and social and family bonding.” Further, the benefits of family hiking have been shown to include connecting with nature, family bonding, the opportunity for peaceful conversations, and physical fitness, according to parentinfluence.com
We propose that our “Tap to Taste” maple syrup-making program will impact families in much the same way that a Cornell University study found that gardening together creates a "sense of cooperation, loyalty, responsibility, and unity" in a family. Together families will learn the art and science of making maple syrup and will be able to participate in the process from “tap to taste.” Through this experience, they will learn to identify maple trees, how to collect sap and how to transform it into maple syrup. They will build on the family unit by developing and executing an operational plan and personalizing their end product. In a study published by the NIH, the strongest contributing factor to a healthy family dynamic was “mutuality - a shared feeling of cohesion and warmth.” Our program will foster mutuality in the families that participate.
