At Heart of Passion, we have a very simple vision - to inspire and encourage young adults to do the impossible, improve the world, and keep laughing!

When I was a teenager facing cancer, I was frustrated that I could not relate well to my peers at school. After two very lonely years, I attended a ski week just for teenagers recently dealing with cancer. The emotional support of simply being around people my age that understood the struggles of the disease was amazingly liberating. It broke my heart that my hospital friends at home couldn’t have the same experience – so I decided to do something about it. I planned retreats for teens in the Southeast, TX, and OK, focusing on provided new experiences in a luxurious fashion. Between 2002 and 2007, we held nine of these retreats. Overall, over 120 teen / young adult volunteers went through our leadership training program and nearly 400 teens with cancer from six states participated. We went on a programming hiatus in 2007 in order to reevaluate our projects and sustainability. We’ve now assembled a team of students, faculty, professionals, and teenagers to combine their expertise and vision in order to take the next steps.

We plan to build a retreat center in New Orleans. This resort-like facility will have 20-25 rooms for double/quadruple occupancy, a restaurant, and a boutique. A certain number of weeks per year will be set aside for Heart of Passion or other youth oriented organizations to host retreats for young adults facing particular hardships or free vacation lodging for families who cannot afford luxuries due to healthcare costs or other recognized hardships. During the remaining weeks, the retreat center will operate as a commercial hotel. The income from the hotel, restaurant and boutique in addition to long-term sponsorships should allow us to be self-sustaining and even profitable.

- Savannah Solomon

A little bit about Red Carpet Day has changed the lives of our volunteers: