Shannon Orr
Wendy Corr:
Well, hey there, folks, welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and our focus is on interesting people in the Cowboy State. Today's guest, oh my gosh, what a story, what a story she has to tell, and I'm so excited for her to be able to tell it to this audience.
First, though, I want to make sure that you all know about another podcast that's put on by the Wyoming Business Alliance. It's called the “Business From the Basement” podcast. And if you're a Wyoming business person, if you're interested in being a business person, they've got so many resources. Check out the “Business From the Basement” podcast and be entertained, informed, and get some really great, great resources there.
So check it out, but don't go yet, because first we have a great guest for The Roundup. Today, we're going to be talking today to Shannon Orr. Shannon has a really amazing story about the birth of her youngest child, about the struggles that they had, the inspiration then to help others who have experienced the same things that they have - and more, as a matter of fact.
So thank you so much for joining us today, Shannon Orr!
Shannon Orr:
Hi. Thank you for having me.
Wendy Corr:
Absolutely. Shannon, we heard about Orr’s Hope, and that's what this is. This is the Orr’s Hope Foundation that Shannon and her family started. And it started because, Shannon, you had some serious difficulties with your last pregnancy, your daughter, Allison.
Tell us about your family - up to that point, everybody was healthy, everybody was good, and then you had this unexpected turn in your lives. Tell us about what happened with your pregnancy with Allie.
Shannon Orr:
Okay, yeah, that's so right. So our boys were eight and 10, and we ended up being pregnant with this sweet little girl, and at 32 weeks, she decided to come a little early in the world. And so of course, they life flighted us to Denver, my husband and I, and Allie was born two weeks later down there at 34 weeks, and then she spent some additional time in the hospital.
So yeah, it was, it was a little bit of a whirlwind. We always tease her because she was supposed to be born on Mother's Day, and she decided to come on April Fools. So it was, it was very appropriate,
Wendy Corr:
Very appropriate. In this case, what sort of experience did you have when you were in the hospital with Ally for so many weeks? and watching her struggle, and I'm sure there was so much concern about, she's on the edge here, are we going to take our little girl home? Tell us about how that felt.
Shannon Orr:
Right? You know, actually, it was very alarming and scary until we got on the Life Flight and the life flight nurse looked at me and said, We see this all the time. You're going to be just fine. But of course, up to that point, we had never heard of anybody having to go be flown to Denver to deliver a child.
Our boys were both eight and a half pounds and healthy, and you know, so this was all new to us, but, but I'll never forget that life flight nurse for saying that to me, because it just, that immediate sense of comfort was priceless. But then the additional three weeks in the hospital, you know, we had amazing care.
And, yeah, we never felt like it wasn't going to be okay. And actually, when Allie was born, she was four pounds, 11 ounces, and in the NICU we saw babies that were barely a pound. So we did feel very blessed at that time.
Wendy Corr:
Now, when you went through this experience, you brought your girl home. She's healthy. She grew normally. She didn't have any real issues from being born so prematurely. But your life changed, your purpose changed after this experience. Tell us, you worked at Kelly Walsh high school before this, and tell us about your life change after you had Allison.
Shannon Orr:
Oh, boy. That's so true. Like I said, we had amazing care. Allie was born at Swedish Medical Center in Denver, and the most incredible nurses, and all I could think about that whole time that I was there was, those nurses have the best job in the whole world. And so when we got Allie home and got settled into our new life, I went back to school and actually got my nursing degree and worked in pediatrics for several years.
Wendy Corr:
That is fantastic. And when you were working at Kelly Walsh, you worked with special needs kids, right?
Shannon Orr:
I did, yeah. So, you know, kids that just need a little extra help have always been near and dear to my heart.
Wendy Corr:
But you brought Allie home. She grew normally. She's a smart girl, in fact, and we'll come back to this later, but her life was forever impacted, and has come full circle. But we'll talk about that in a little while. What are some of the things then that led you so many years later, because Allie is 27 now, right?
Shannon Orr:
She is, yeah.
Wendy Corr:
But something changed. A few years ago, you thought that - this experience stayed with you. Tell us about how the Orr's Hope Foundation came to be.
Shannon Orr:
You know, my husband's worked really hard all his life, and we've been extremely blessed. So there was a point, a turning point in our lives, when he just looked at me and said, We need to just give back. And immediately I knew what that purpose needed to be, because there's a huge gap in Wyoming.
I mean, it's a beautiful state with lots of great resources, but the one resource we don't have is pediatric health care for premature babies and critically ill children. All of those kiddos are sent out of state. And of course, knowing the hardship we went through, you know, we appreciate what those families are going through, too.
So we started a foundation in 2018. Originally, we started just to help families with premature babies in Natrona County, and over the years, we've expanded. Now we help families with premature babies and critically ill children age 18 and under in the whole state of Wyoming,
Wendy Corr:
That is absolutely fantastic. So let's talk about the Orr’s Hope Foundation, and talk about - because if you go, folks, if you go to their Facebook page, you are going to see the faces and the stories of just some amazing, amazing little children that are facing incredible odds. But Orr’s Hope Foundation is able to help their families.
And tell us what resources Orr’s Hope Foundation provides to the families of these children.
Shannon Orr:
Yes, so we provide gas cards so people can get to their children. A lot of times when kids are life flighted, only one parent can go with the child. So then we need to get the additional parent down there so families can be together. And then once they're there, we help with hotel rooms.
We work closely with the Ronald McDonald Houses so they can have a sense of community and live in those houses while they're there. And also we help with food, because, you know, when you are uprooted and are not working, you know, those are the main basic things that you need so you can be with your child.
Wendy Corr:
Now, what kind of diseases or disorders are covered under what you do? Because, is it just children that have birth defects? Is it children who've been diagnosed with cancer? Is it short term illnesses? Is it long term illnesses? Tell us about that.
Shannon Orr:
You know the only requirements that we have is that the child's 18 or under and a Wyoming resident. The only diagnosis we don't help is cancer, because Jason's Friends does an incredible job with that, and so we work closely with Jason's Friends. When they get referrals that those kids don't qualify for their resources, they refer them over to us and vice versa.
Wendy Corr:
That's great. We'll have to talk about Jason's Friends. So you're not the only foundation in Wyoming or even in Natrona County, then, that's working with this. Tell us about the partnerships that you have.
Shannon Orr:
Oh yeah, we have wonderful partnerships, again, with Jason's Friends. Ronald McDonald House is huge for those families. And then we also like to work with the Child Development Center here in Casper, because it's important for us when kids come home that they have those resources to be successful.
And like I said, sense of community is huge, so families realize they're not the only ones going through something like this.
Wendy Corr:
Absolutely. Yeah, no kidding. So talk about how many families you're currently helping. Because the Orr’s Hope Foundation, you've been up and running since you said, 2018, correct? That's a lot of families in need. Tell us about how many you're currently walking alongside.
Shannon Orr:
Okay, right now we have 85 families. It's been fluctuating between 85 and 100 the last few weeks. Yeah, we have a lot of sick, sick families or kiddos out there, and these families are going through really hard times right now.
Wendy Corr:
My goodness. And so what's the range of the financial assistance that you provide? How much can you give to these families, you know?
Shannon Orr:
Going back to your question, short term, long term, we help, we walk alongside them the whole time until they are able to be back home. We've had children that were born and didn't leave the hospital. We have one little girl that's four years old and still has not left the hospital.
We had another family, their little girl was in the hospital for over two years. So it just, it really, it just depends - we even help families that just have to go down for an appointment for a day and back. So we try not to say no to anybody, and just want to be there to walk alongside them during this difficult time.
Wendy Corr:
That's absolutely fantastic. I want to go to the structure of the Orr’s Hope Foundation. You've got a board, and you've got employees. This is an actual big old foundation. Tell us about your board members and how people become associated with Orr’s Hope Foundation.
Shannon Orr:
Well, actually, we're just a family board. It consists of myself, my daughter, Allie, and then my two daughter in laws, Allie and Acacia. So we have two Allies, and then we have one wonderful employee, our director, Cherish Novotny, who manages all the day to day stuff. She's really incredible.
Wendy Corr:
That's wonderful. One of the things that you do in order to provide the assistance is you have donations, obviously, but you do fun things to raise money for Orr's Hope Foundation. You do a golf tournament every year, and you do something that's coming up this next week, which is the Concert for Hope. The fifth annual Concert for Hope. You’ve got a great headliner. Tell us about the Concert for Hope coming up this week.
Shannon Orr:
You bet, we have Chancey Williams once again, like you said, this is our fifth year. He's a huge supporter, and we appreciate him so much. But yes, next Thursday the 29th, the activities start at 5pm down at David Street Station. We have a great headliner that will go on at 6:15 and then Chancey goes on at 7:30.
Wendy Corr:
That is just great. We talked before we got on, folks, about how actually we got put together here, and it's because of our Cowboy State Daily advertising administrative assistant, Abby Roich, who knows everybody, including Chancey. And so she, through her association with Chancey, got a hold of Shannon and said, Shannon, we should do a podcast here!
But tell us about these sorts of opportunities for people to come and have fun and raise money for a good cause. What are some other fundraisers that you've had. Tell us about those.
Shannon Orr:
Well, our Golf for Hope is actually our biggest fundraiser. We have amazing support with lots of partners, we call them partners in hope, these great businesses and people that support us. And so the golf tournament is actually the same day of the concert. We do that earlier in the day, and then we have all of our partners in hope at the concert, we invite all of our family members.
And then, of course, it's just free to the public as well, to come and enjoy.
Wendy Corr:
Free to the public. That's awesome. Oh my gosh, yeah. And then, of course, you can collect donations there from people who feel, you know, so moved, and continue the work that you're doing. One of the things that's so cool, though, is that 100% of the donations go directly to the families. There's no, none of those donations go to overhead or anything like that.
Shannon Orr:
No, that's something we're very proud of. Of course, we have very low overhead and we have a private donor that supports all those funds for any overhead that we may have, so that we can give 100% of the donations back to our families.
Wendy Corr:
That is absolutely fantastic. I want to get a little deeper here, Shannon. Tell me some of the stories, some of the stories of some of the children that you have been able to help over the years. We'll come back to Allie here in a little while, but talk about some of the ones that have really moved you.
And it could be one of the current ones. It could be some from years past, but tell me about those.
Shannon Orr:
Oh gosh, there's so many great stories. We are putting a video together to put on our website soon, about a family that had a set of twins and lost one of their twins in this family, it's the Jaeger family, Justin and Kylie Jaeger. But they also have turned this into something good, and they give back every year. And so I look forward to that on our website for sure.
We've had burn victims, we've had car accidents, of course, we've had kids that have fought so many big battles and just are thriving right now, which always makes our hearts so incredibly happy. Gosh, just to think of any particular situation is really hard, because, like I said, we have so many great people in our we call them the Orr's hope family.
Wendy Corr:
I was looking at your Facebook page, and there is a little man on there, Raedyn Hayz. What an amazing story. Tell us about Raedyn. What can you tell us about Raedyn and his story?
Shannon Orr:
Yeah, Raedyn was born with a lot of complications. They lived in Cheyenne at the time. And talk about a warrior mama. His mom is really incredible. He has had several surgeries and told several times that he wasn't going to make it through and he just can. He's such a fighter. He has beat all the odds.
And his mom actually moved to Colorado so they could be closer to resources. So, you know, they had to make some life changes, too, but she did what was best for her child, and he is just, yeah, the most incredible story. I'm glad you got to see a little bit of Raedyn, because that's definitely one of our favorite stories.
Wendy Corr:
Oh my gosh, I look at him, and he's just got so much life. I mean, the picture on the Facebook page, he's just reaching up. But you can tell that he has so many issues and so many medical issues, and your heart just breaks when there's somebody with that much spirit who's held back by these physical, physical limitations.
You've got some great success stories, though. One of the other things on your Facebook page, I just saw one of your kids graduated, one of the kids that you helped, that Orr's Hope Foundation helped is graduating. Tell us about that story. There are so many things and so many people that just have these great success stories that we can all celebrate.
Shannon Orr:
Again, just another one defying the odds. He was in the hospital for a very long time and got out just in time to graduate high school, you know. So these are the kids that are just going to go on and just do great things.
And it seems like we have a few family members that have several kiddos that are fighting big battles too. So those are always the ones that are near and dear to our hearts. It just amazes me every single day how these parents are so resilient and stay positive and just come out of it, just even more beautiful than you know they could have imagined.
Wendy Corr:
But of course, there are those kids that don't make it. There's Sammy who is not here anymore, but you helped his family - tell us that story.
Shannon Orr:
Talk about another great family, Sammy’s family, yeah, that was a tough one. He fought a long battle, and he was loved so incredibly, just the love that his family had for him and his little brother, just, yeah, just, I know it's been really difficult for them, but they are an incredible family as well.
Wendy Corr:
And so Orr’s Hope. How do you identify the kids and the families that you help? Do they apply to you? How does that work? If somebody's got a critically ill child or coming up, how did they reach out to you for assistance?
Shannon Orr:
You know, it's so wonderful and so beautiful, because when a family is in need, it seems like the community just reaches out for them. We get, but also we are in contact with the hospitals, so we get the referrals directly from the hospitals most of the time.
Wendy Corr:
And it's not just Natrona County kids. It's it's kids throughout Wyoming. Is that correct?
Shannon Orr:
That's correct. Yep, we have helped kids in every county in Wyoming, and we currently have kids in Billings and Salt Lake, and lots in Denver.
Wendy Corr:
So it's become a Regional Foundation, more so even than a Wyoming.
Shannon Orr:
Well, we just help kids from Wyoming, but those kiddos are sent to those states for treatments.
Wendy Corr:
Okay, alright. So they're just, you've gotta be a Wyoming resident. That's really the only qualification, right?
Shannon Orr:
Yep, that, and the child has to be under the age of 18. But that's it. That's all we ask. We don't have any paperwork for the families to fill out, because when they're undergoing something like this, they don't need any additional stress or anything. So we make it as simple for them as we can.
Wendy Corr:
That's so wonderful. So let's, let's bring this full circle. Now let's talk about Allie. So Allie started out life with all the odds stacked against her, and yet, she left the hospital. She's healthy. She grew up normally. What is Allie doing now?
Shannon Orr:
Well, Allie went to the University of Wyoming and got her nursing degree, and she just knew she wanted to be back in Denver, so she went to Denver and applied for nursing jobs, and actually got a job at Swedish Medical Center, where she was born.
Yeah, I know, that's my favorite part of the story, and it was just by chance she did it. So she's not in the NICU. She started out in the burn unit, and now she's a cardiac ICU nurse.
Wendy Corr:
That is absolutely phenomenal. And, just talk about coming full circle and truly giving back. Her life's work now, is doing the work that brought her into the world?
Shannon Orr:
That's right, yeah. So, you know, it's a good reminder of, you know, bad things can sometimes turn into great things. You just gotta trust. Absolutely.
Wendy Corr:
You have to trust. And your whole family has then walked that trust line the whole time. Your boys work for, your two older boys work with your husband now, tell us about what they're doing.
Shannon Orr:
My husband and my two sons, Matt and Justin are here in Casper working in the renewables. They're in the wind farms, the solar farms, trucking, cranes, and so it's really nice to have them here. And, of course, my two daughter in laws are on the board, Acacia and Allie, and then our six grandchildren are very involved. We call them the junior executives.
Wendy Corr:
So Shannon, talk us through your day. What do you do, what's your responsibilities with the foundation, and what sort of work do you do?
Shannon Or:
Well, right now, the last month, we've been busy preparing for the golf tournament and the concert for hope. So that's been a lot. This is our favorite time of the year. But day to day, I do the financials. You know, of course, any donations that come in, I handle those and do all the banking stuff.
But like I said, we have an incredible employee. Cherish Novotny. She's our director, and she does the day to day stuff, and we couldn't do it without her.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic. Shannon, this has been just a really fun conversation, to learn about this resource that's available to families throughout Wyoming. And I've got a story of my own that I could share about the illness that my son had that was life threatening and it was just scary.
And I wish, I wish that Orr’s Hope Foundation had been available to me when that happened, and it was a few years before your foundation even started. But to know that there are these resources for families is just absolutely a gift. And thank you for bringing this gift to the people of Wyoming and to the families and to the children.
Shannon Orr:
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that, and I appreciate you letting us tell a little bit of our story too.
Wendy Corr:
It is. It's fantastic. You've got so many community partners. You've talked about a few of them. And of course, we want to make sure people know about the fifth annual Concert for Hope, with Chancey Williams coming up on the 29th and then also, of course, the golf tournament. Can people still sign up for the golf tournament?
Shannon Orr:
The Golf Tournament is full, yeah. But next year, yes.
Wendy Corr:
Sign up early, and then, of course, we'll put your contact information in the podcast notes here, so people can get a hold of you if they if they want to donate, if they want to be considered for, if they need to be considered for assistance, or if they want to sign up to join in some of the really fun things that you have going on that celebrate life, while raising money to give life, which is truly what you're doing.
Shannon Orr:
Yes, please check out our website, Orrshope.org. Like I said, our video will be up next week. It's so heartwarming. There's lots of information on there. There's stories about our kiddos and our monthly newsletters as well.
Wendy Corr:
Fantastic. Shannon, thank you so much. It's so amazing and blessed that your daughter is doing this work that she's doing now in the hospital that she was born at all those years ago, and the work that's being done around the region to help these kids. Thank you, Shannon.
Shannon Orr:
Thank you Wendy, thank you for your time. And yeah, we do have a little treat at the end of the Chancey Williams concert on Thursday night, so I hope everybody can be there.
Wendy Corr:
Very good. So find out more about the Chancey Williams concert on their website. Folks, thank you for tuning in today. We are so blessed here at The Roundup at Cowboy State Daily to be able to highlight some of these people that make Wyoming the amazing state that it is and that brings us all together. So thanks for tuning in and hearing these stories. Thank you, Shannon.
Folks, have a wonderful week. Tune in again next week.
ORR’S HOPE FOUNDATION FACEBOOK PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/Orrshopefoundation
ORR’S HOPE FOUNDATION WEBSITE:
