Keys to Healing 2010 News:
Project Jason Announces Special Honoree for 2010 Keys to Healing RetreatOmaha, Nebraska-- August 8, 2010 --Among the many missing loved ones honored at the Project Jason 2009 Keys to Healing Retreat, two were singled out as special honorees, including one missing loved one, and a loved one who was recovered. The Project Jason Keys to Healing Retreat, the first of its kind, is an annual weekend event filled with lectures, discussions and activities designed to help heal the bodies, minds and spirits of those suffering the unique loss of having a loved one who is missing.
As 2009 marked the first retreat, the founders of Project Jason selected their son, Jason, as the honored missing person. Mike Barbierre was the honored recovered person. His family's generosity provided the seed money needed to get the first retreat off the ground.
"We believe if Jason knows what we do in his name, then he is proud of how much we have been able to help other families over the years," said Kelly Jolkowski, President and Founder of Project Jason, "Likewise, Mike Barbierre has every reason to be proud of his family's generous acts. The special honorees will be a tradition of all future Keys to Healing Retreats."
For 2010 and beyond, the special honors will go one missing person and one recovered person whose families have demonstrated kind and generous spirits. They are among those who reach out to others, despite their own pain and tragedy, and set examples of how to face with dignity and grace what is likely the most difficult event in their lives.
The Project Jason 2010 Keys to Healing Retreat honored missing person is Jesse Ross.
The story of Jesse's disappearance began in Chicago, IL, in late 2006. Jesse, a 19-year-old student at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, was visiting Chicago to participate in a mock United Nations conference. At 1 am on November 21, Jesse was attending a mock Security Council meeting at the Sheraton Office & Towers. Jesse was last seen at 2:30 am when the group took a break and he walked out of the meeting room. Some thought that he might have walked to his hotel, the Four Points Sheraton, about ten minutes away. What happened to Jesse next remains a mystery. He never made it to his room, and he has not been seen since.
Jesse's parents, Don and Donna Ross of Belton, MO, have been pillars of strength and grace in hard times, not just for each other and their own family, but for families all over the country.
Don and Donna attend missing person awareness events in their community, and frequently travel hundreds of miles to support others. They've attended Project Jason's Miles for the Missing event twice, and are now two-time attendees at the Project Jason Keys to Healing retreat. They also attended Omaha Missing Person's Day in 2007.
They take time to listen to others, and without pause, say "yes" to support needs from others in the same position.
"Many years ago, when we first became acquainted, I received a surprise in the mail one day," remembers Kelly Jolkowski. "It was a set of postcards with my son Jason's photo and information, all ready for me to send in the mail for awareness. Don and Donna had ordered them for me in an effort to help me with my case. I was so touched. I knew that these people were not just your average nice people, they were earth angels."
Don and Donna also participated in Project Jason conference calls with other families of missing persons, and in fact, met the family of this year's special recovered honoree, Christopher Michael Pierce, during one of those calls.
The Ross family demonstrates that you don't have to form a nonprofit organization to make a difference. They regularly contribute to support conversations on the internet on social networking sites, such as Facebook. They also, with Jesse's friends from the band "A Dead Giveaway," host awareness events such as Opiefest, an annual music celebration and fundraiser, and Opie's Tour, a multi-state band tour.
"There are days you're paralyzed, but I know I have to pull it together," Don says. "We're not going to give up on Jesse and let him down. As far as we know, Jesse can't save himself, so we need to be diligent."
"Faith makes hope possible," Donna said. "You have to have hope.".
It's clear the Ross family is not going to give up on Jesse, nor on helping other families in any way they can.
