As she oversees the work of GROWS
and Always Best Care, Henoch has found
that “every day is a new challenge.” She
remembers one client in particular: an older
woman in excruciating pain with daughters
who didn’t know the best way to help their
mother. Always Best Care helped provide
hospice services. Th ough they only worked
with the client for three days, the impact was
profound. “It helped mom to be calm and pass away
peacefully,” Henoch said. “And each one
of those daughters [sent] us a ‘thank you’
because they didn’t know what to do.”
Sasha Rogelberg
LAVENDER LAND
STEWARD S
ophia Watkins is a third-generation
Latino farm owner in the Montgomery
County Agriculture Reserve. She owns
Soleado Lavender Farm, a 30-acre refuge
for pollinators.

“It’s something I started because I wanted
to continue a legacy of land stewardship
and sustainable agriculture in Montgomery
County,” Watkins said. From 4,000 plants,
lavender’s harvested and dried for products
sold in the farm’s store, like essential oils.

Both artists, Watkins and husband Kevin
met through their passion for creativity.

Incorporating art in the farm’s events is “an
important return for us.”
While the farm is closed to visitors, the
online store remains open. “Coming out of
COVID…there’s been so many challenges
in just being open,” Watkins said.

Th e owners hope to host holiday sales and
a mid-fall open house. Watkins expressed
interest in photography events, painting and
a small lavender festival. Lavender blooms in
the months leading up to summer, with the
best time to visit in the middle of June.

Th e farm also conducts internship
programs for people in agriculture, such as
environmental studies students. Th e interns
get experience with the foundations of
agriculture. “Th at’s sort of been something
we’re expanding on,” Watkins said. “We
want to off er more to those people.”
Frances Shefter
PHOTO BY BRAD BALFOUR
A FIGHTER FOR
FAMILIES G
rowing up, Frances Sheft er
sympathized with special education
students. She thought they weren’t getting
the help they needed. Sheft er felt this way
about the education system in general. She
thought she was a slow reader who could
have benefi tted from a little more attention
from educators.

Th at feeling drove Sheft er to become
a special education teacher and
coordinator herself. But once she was
in the system, she saw that students still
were not getting the close instruction
that they needed.

So at 31, she took the LSAT, applied to
law school and got accepted. For a year and
a half aft er law school, Sheft er worked for
a family law fi rm and hated it. Th en she
became an independent contractor doing
document review work. It was not until
2011 that Sheft er, then 41, fi gured out what
she really wanted to do.

She applied for and received an
appointment to a Superior Court of the
District of Columbia panel that assigned
attorneys to represent parents who needed
help getting services for their kids.

“I was teaching families how to advocate
for themselves,” Sheft er said. “And I was
getting children their rightful education.”
By 2012, she had dropped the document
review work to open her own fi rm, Sheft er
Law, representing families in rooms, and
sometimes court rooms, with school
administrators. “It’s amazing,” she said. “Having parents
see, ‘Th is is who my child truly is,’ because
they are getting the accommodations they
need.” 9
Jarrad Saff ren
Sophia Watkins
Gianna Gronowski
PHOTO COURTESY OF SOPHIA WATKINS
MONTGOMERYMAG.COM • 27