Reaching hearts and restoring hope, the mission of the Red Bird Foundation, founded by distinguished writer and speaker Paula D’Arcy, is the lifeblood of D’Arcy’s conferences, seminars and presentations.

Founded in 2001, the Red Bird Foundation aims to provide opportunities for those in need to find personal and spiritual growth as well as healing. A seminar benefitting the foundation will be held from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. May 1 at Broadmoor United Methodist Church in Shreveport. D’Arcy will present “Finding Our Way” and other themes from her own life that have been change points.

D’Arcy is a former psychotherapist who worked with those dealing with grief and loss. She has written 10 books and dedicated her life’s work to helping others open their hearts and find freedom and peace within themselves, while raising a consciousness that we are all part of one whole.

D’Arcy now leads workshops and retreats with a focus on spirituality, writing, women’s groups – including Rites of Passage and Women’s Initiation – and other spaces where both men and women can find a new perspective on life’s circumstances and the way in which they see the world. She said by spending an extended period of time with a group of people, there is a larger potential for growth by the space created.

Some of D’Arcy’s retreats have been in prisons and shelters, with those in recovery and for those with limited financial means. The purpose of the retreats and seminars, which are held all over the world, is to foster awareness for the ongoing work toward freedom and peace.

D’Arcy said the goal in creating the nonprofit organization was to tend to the needs of the heart and restore hope. D’Arcy may identify a need and bring it to the board of directors, where programs and scholarships are sometimes initiated in order to address that need.

D’Arcy said it was important to create programs and scholarships to allow those to attend who may not otherwise be able. She said it is always her mission to help people heal, and it’s possible in all circumstances, stating that some of the freest people she’s met were doing life in prison but “they have done the inner work.”

In recent years, D’Arcy has collaborated with inspirational speaker Richard Rohr O.F.M., a Franciscan friar and ordained Roman Catholic priest. Together they have presented on the Male and Female Journey and Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.

Some of the scholarships and programs created through Red Bird Foundation include a program for prison ministry in Austin, Texas, funding to support Haitian children attend school and rebuilding libraries in New Orleans following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as funding to attend seminars and retreats, a scholarship to help the indigenous peoples in Greenland (Eskimos) to attend Healing Circles and receive help to reduce the country’s high rate of suicide and a yoga program for the Arkansas Cares Program in Little Rock to support abused and mentally ill women in their rehabilitation along with many others.

Red Bird provides substantial support to women and men, from those in recovery and transitioning from homelessness to the Arab and Jewish people in Israel who have been affected by years of war. The foundation’s impact is global and meaningful to those who come in large groups or on a one-on-one basis.

Tickets for the seminar are $75 each and may be ordered by calling 861-0586, Ext. 236, or online at www. broadmoorumc.org and click on the Paula D’Arcy event.

The seminar will include lunch and offer reflections from some of the most important times in D’Arcy’s life. For more information on D’Arcy and the Red Bird Foundation, go to www. redbirdfoundation.com.

–Katie Ho