What happens when the world seems to move on after a devastating loss, but you're left picking up the pieces while simultaneously caring for grieving children? In this heartfelt conversation, we explore the critical work of Widowed Parent Relief Project (WPRP) and how they're transforming support for families experiencing profound loss.
Kelly, WPRP's founder, reveals the science-backed approach behind their services, explaining that the number one predictor of how well children adjust to losing a parent is directly tied to the functioning level of the surviving parent. This crucial insight drives their mission to alleviate everyday stressors through practical services like home cleaning and organizing, while simultaneously building enduring support systems that prevent the isolation so many widowed parents experience.
The discussion takes us deep into the rarely discussed "secondary losses" that accompany the death of a spouse – the 20-50 additional losses that cascade through a family's life, from social connections to practical skills the deceased partner handled. We learn how simple things like maintaining a yard, organizing paperwork, or even operating electronic devices can become painful reminders of absence and sources of overwhelming stress. As Kelly notes, "When you have this big grief, the things that ordinarily are life's burdens feel like the weight of the world on your shoulders."
Beyond exploring these challenges, the conversation offers hope through WPRP's innovative two-pronged approach: providing paid services to reduce practical burdens while assigning family friend volunteers who serve as liaisons between widowed parents and communities that want to help but don't know how. These compassionate strategies create breathing room for grief while ensuring families don't face their journey alone.
Whether you're personally touched by loss, know someone who is, or simply believe in the power of community support during life's most challenging moments, this episode will transform how you think about grief, parenting, and what it truly means to help when help is needed most. Visit wprp.org to learn how you can support this vital mission.
For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.
To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.
To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shed Geek (00:08):
Thank you for listening to part two of a
two-part series here at the ShedGeek podcast.
If you missed part one, just goback to last week and listen
for more engaging conversationhere at the Shed Geek podcast
conversation here at the ShedGeek podcast.
Kelly Orrico (00:29):
Our mission is to alleviate everyday stressors and
help build an enduring supportsystem for widowed parents so
that they can spend more timewith their children and focus on
their family's mental healthand healing.
So, we partner with moms ordads who've lost their spouse
and have children living withthem in the home under the age
of 18 and have lost their spousewithin the children living with
them in the home under the ageof 18 and have lost their spouse
within the last three years.
We pick that number because theum everything's research-based
(00:52):
Um the mental health in thosefirst three years are critical
and that's really why we pickthree years.
Um, the number one predictor ofhow well a child will adjust to
the loss of their parent is thefunctioning level of the
surviving spouse.
So, it's like, okay, well, howcan we help our parents function
as best as they can whilethey're grieving and their
children are grieving to helpthem through this time Right and
(01:16):
so that?
So, what we do?
We have really two arms to whatwe do.
We have paid services that helpalleviate those stressors and
then we also have a familyfriend volunteer program that
does the other part.
So, the paid services that weoffer.
We walk alongside our familiesfor one year or more, but at
minimum one, and we pay formonthly cleaning services.
(01:37):
We pay for home organizing.
Both of those things areresearch-based about what, what
a clean house, what declutteringcan do for your cortisol levels
.
It's actually proven that, ifyou like, clutter and depression
are kind of cyclical and gotogether.
So it's like clean house, cleanmind kind of thing.
it's all science I love thatbecause I'm like cj it's
(01:58):
scientifically proven.
We should get a cleaning lady Ioperate the same way.
Shed Geek (02:04):
My wife will, will tell you I.
You know, some people can havea cluttered desk and they know
where everything's at.
They don't want anybody totouch it.
When everything's orderly forme, I just that's when I know
where things are at and, yeah, Iclean, house clean, mind clean,
whatever it is, I just feel Ifeel better.
(02:25):
So, yeah, I believe in thescience behind that.
Maybe I'm, maybe I'm justobsessive, compulsive, I'm not
really sure, Kelly, maybe.
But if you saw my desk rightnow, you would see that papers
are not slanted at angles,they're straight up and down.
There.
I'm a little bit OCD.
I've got things in their littlespots and they they're squared
(02:45):
off and I just love that.
I feel like I can breathewhenever I operate under that.
So, I totally get the science.
Whether it's the science or not, it makes sense to me.
Kelly Orrico (02:56):
Exactly Well, and I wish I had one 10th of that,
actually.
But now think about if youdidn't, if you weren't naturally
that person just start thereand your spouse was the one that
helped organize and clean.
And all of a sudden now, everytime you look at something that
is a mess, it's a reminder thatyour spouse is gone.
(03:18):
This goes for, like the lawncare.
You know, looking outside andseeing your all the bushes are
overgrown and there's weedsgrowing and that's embarrassing
to you for the neighbors to see,and you know, but you don't.
Everything becomes so big Everywhen you're, when you have this
big grief, the things that,like ordinarily, are like life's
burdens.
They feel like the weight ofthe world on your shoulder, and
(03:38):
so grief has this buildup ofthings in someone's home a lot
you know, and then it becomes sobig that you don't you don't
even have the energy to tackleit.
And so, a clean house and youknow, clean sheets for the kids,
and like that's.
There's a healthiness part ofthat too, right, so but the and
then the home organizing.
It's like we've helped people.
I've got my husband's office.
(03:59):
It's been sitting there.
I don't can't bring myself togo through it and we could use
that space for a playroom ormove the teenager into their own
space or whatever.
Fill in the blank, there'salways things so we've sent.
Many parents have come to us andlike we bought this home and we
were going to rebuild, we weregoing to, you know, renovate it,
and then he died and now it'slike half renovated.
It's like, oh my gosh, you know, there's just so much going on
(04:23):
and so that can really help withthat kind of thing.
And then we also pay forself-care stipends and so
oftentimes this is again foranyone really grieving the first
thing that goes out the windowis really caring for yourself.
But now, if you're a parent,all your energy is going to your
kid and you feel bad steppingaway for yourself to go out with
(04:43):
friends.
You feel bad about that.
You feel bad about spendingmoney on yourself because, also,
you might not know where yourfinances are.
Everything's in like limbo,right, a lot going on there, and
so oftentimes they're notspending any money on themselves
and they don't want to get ababysitter and whatnot.
So it's like, hey, here's somefunds and we want you to spend
that money because if you'rerefreshed, you're going to be a
better parent.
(05:03):
And so how are you going tomake sure that you spend that
money?
Oh, we have a family friend,volunteer who's going to walk
alongside you, and not only arethey going to look out for your
self-care, but they're alsogoing to ask you about all the
other challenges that you havegoing on in your life.
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Kelly Orrico (06:39):
A widow again at any age will experience 20 to 50
secondary losses.
So, honestly, it's no, it's nowonder that we don't know what
to do and how to help somebody.
So, it's like I mean I couldhelp her with that, but does she
need that?
I don't know, maybe she's goodat that and she doesn't need
that.
I mean, if CJ died, it'd belike someone come over here and
tell me how to turn my TV on.
(07:00):
I'm like I, Frankie, my turntwo and I handed my kid my
remote and CJ did it the othertime.
I haven't touched a remote in20 years.
Like you know how much TVs havechanged in 20 years.
Like I wouldn't have a clue.
So, I probably would just neverwatch TV again.
Like I would need someone forjust something as simple as
turning a television on.
And I feel like I'mtechnologically savvy, but TVs
scare me.
(07:20):
So, anyways, the family friendis going to ask these questions.
They're gonna be like what areyour challenges?
What's burdening you?
And then they're going to reachout to the community, the
people who want to help you butdon't know how and or what you
need, and they're going to say,hey, could you help with this?
And everyone's going to go?
Yeah, because we want help, andso we do that.
(07:42):
And what's awesome is some ofour families don't have anybody.
They moved here during COVIDhusband got sick, died, and they
don't have anybody.
They don't have family, notfriends.
It's like you know they'restarting from scratch.
Other people have a supportsystem, but remember what
studies show oftentimes theylose their friends and family.
(08:03):
This chasm forms because theydon't know what to say, because
there's a parent, who does havea role in this, needs to be able
to say what they need, and mostpeople don't.
We as humans, just don't.
We just don't.
It's just.
It's oftentimes we don't.
If you do, God bless you,because that is what you should
be doing, because people want tohelp, right?
(08:24):
So, this family friend is aliaison between this already
community that loves you anddoesn't want to leave you and
the parent, and they'll preventthat chasm from happening, which
is really awesome.
So, there's that too.
But sometimes parents come ontoo late in that element it's
never too late to come on, butlike that part, that has already
(08:45):
happened to them and so againthey're alone, they feel alone,
or maybe they just don't want totalk to those people anymore
because there was a tragic deathand they, they need to separate
themselves from that community.
Now, like that happens too,everything's understandable and
everything's your own, feelgrieved.
There's no wrong way to grieve.
(09:05):
So, it's like, listen, we justwant to meet you where you're at
and help build this enduringsupport system for you, how that
looks to you Right.
And so, we engage the community, we engage friends, and that's
part of our mission, is to dothat.
Shed Geek (09:19):
I'll tell you what I.
I love it because I think Itold you before coming on here,
a couple of things.
One you know just how immersedwe are in, like the Anabaptist
community, the plain community,there's a huge amount of Amish
and Mennonite culture that'sinside our industry and I don't
(09:42):
know, you know, anybody who doesculture or who does community
better.
They just have.
I mean, every time I talk tosomebody they're like you know
they've attended like 30weddings this year.
You know what I mean.
They're like we go to this oneand this one and this one and,
like funerals and just supportgroups and just the internal
workings and mechanisms thatthey create.
And this is one thing that, forthose of us who weren't raised
(10:03):
into that world, you know, inthat culture the world's, the
world's a little bit harsh, it'sa little bit hard, it's a
little bit cold.
And you know, community seemsto be a far, far and away
removed from what I felt like itwas for me growing up.
You know, we grew up around allof our cousins, you know, and
(10:25):
that wasn't near what my momtalks about, the closeness of
family for them.
And I know my kids just haven'tgot to experience quite the
same.
We're always in demand, workingtrying to make a living, can't
make it to this, can't make itto that, miss a wedding, miss
something or another, and wedon't prioritize necessarily a
lot of the right things.
And I think that that'shappening more and more to the
(10:47):
nuclear family in many ways,shapes and forms.
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Shed Geek (12:34):
So, you know, I knew whenever we got to talking, I
just I loved your testimony tobegin with.
We have a, you know we have aministry.
I believe God gives us all theministry I've talked about for a
long time.
You know there's a littlefarther to get into Hebrews, and
Hebrews 13, 3 says be withthose in prison, as though
you're in prison yourself, andwe've done a lot of faith-based
(12:56):
drug and alcohol rehabilitationand even prison ministry in our
time, and I'm in a bit of adesert there.
I believe that that is andalways will be, because I don't
think a calling that's placed onyour life leaves your life.
But I'm in a bit of a desertmoment for that and we just
(13:18):
haven't found the right outlet.
But the one thing I know isthat either you know, like when
God brings you success and we'vejust had, you know, just some
really cool moments in the lastfour years because of the
podcast connecting with peoplelearning people's stories.
This networking works.
Right, it starts to meet morepeople.
You throw out a net.
We met Joe Next thing you know.
Through Joe, we met Kelly.
(13:39):
Right, it starts to meet morepeople.
You throw out a net.
We met Joe Next thing you know.
Through Joe, we met Kelly.
Right, maybe Kelly meetssomeone because of the podcast,
I don't know, but I think that'show God, sort of like, made it
work and none of us get to sitback and be like we're the
reason, we're the, we're thereason, like you know the reason
, and it's God and I love it.
So I hope someone's blessed byyour story.
But us, as a company Shed Geek,you know, I just really wanted a
(14:02):
place that we could publiclytalk about who and where we're
helping and who we lineourselves up with and what we do
as a company.
And when I heard your story Iwas just really so touched by it
.
I mean the magic, you know, ofyour mom going home, you know,
on May 3rd, and your stroke ayear later on May 2nd, and you
(14:27):
know the day to celebratemothers and orphans being May
3rd.
Just listen to the whole story.
We got a chance to be there.
It was very emotional.
It was.
It's very emotional, it wasvery raw and it was very real
and it was something that wejust took away.
Uh, there were so many goodstories there.
You know there were so manyother people that that talked
and, uh, and, and we'reconnected with a lot of people
(14:50):
that have a lot of uh.
You know things that they, youknow, believe in.
Um, you know couldn't be anymore proud of.
You know, Sam.
I know you don't know Sam, youknow believe in.
You know couldn't be any moreproud of.
You know, Sam.
I know you don't know Sam, butyou know I was telling you about
what they're doing with, youknow sheds in North Carolina and
being able to give those awaythe tornado relief here near our
home in West Kentucky wheneverit came through Mayfield last
(15:11):
year.
You know last year has been acouple of years now.
You know we were able to cometogether with Sam between the
podcast and the shuttle atbrotherhood.
I think we raised somethinglike $50,000 in in 24 hours.
We even hey, we even did a uhuh, a shout out to um uh, chip
(15:32):
gains on Instagram and chipactually answered on Instagram
and he gave us $10,000 towardsthe calls of and you know, you
know, you know it was the mostawesome thing Kelly is like
whenever we would go and wewould give away these generators
.
I knew that a lot of thesefolks in the Mayfield community
(15:55):
before the tornado probablywatched the learning channel or
Magnolia network or whatever itwas Right, and they knew who
chip and Joanna were.
Most people do A lot of peoplereally do and and I knew that if
I said, hey, these were donatedto you by the shed geek, people
would be like, okay, great,don't know what that means.
But instead I was able to say,well, I'm not exactly sure which
(16:16):
of his $10,000 went towardswhich generator, so I just
assumed any generator I grabbedwas donated by him.
And it gave me the authority tosay, hey, have you ever heard
of Chip Gaines?
And they were like, yeah, likeon the Learning Channel.
And I was like, yeah, hedonated this generator to you.
Kelly Orrico (16:36):
I love that.
Shed Geek (16:38):
And that was so powerful because I was like, oh
God, bless him, tell him.
We said thank you and I waslike I don't really have that
kind of access to him, but itwas just kind of nice to be like
.
You know, what he stands for asa brand is his walk with Christ
and he lives that publicly.
And because he gave you knowwhat I mean, I didn't need the
(17:03):
glory, you know what I mean.
Like that's not what it wasabout.
It was about the ability togive.
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Shed Geek (18:51):
Right now, we just have not.
I mean, hey, we support Sam, wesupport all of these different
endeavors, the tornado cleanups,storm, storm cleanups, all
these things.
But I heard your story and Ithought, man, we just really
need to get behind something.
So we're going to dedicatesomething Me and Deanna will
dedicate something ourselves toyour effort, but and you know,
and I don't know what that'll be, but we're going to donate and
(19:14):
but, more than anything, we'regoing to put a link, uh, for
those of you get the newsletter,uh, the email newsletter that
comes out every Monday,Wednesday and Friday, we'll put
a link.
Not only there'll be that onethere, today's episode that
might've been how you heardabout it, but we'll put it.
We'll put a link to Kelly'swebsite here www.
wprp.
(19:36):
org.
So Widowed Parent ReliefProject W-P-R-P.
And there is a donate buttonright on here that you can give.
I encourage you to go and give.
Hey, listen, I'm not going towear you guys out the listeners
with this.
I try not to do that.
I always tell you guys we'restarting year five.
This week starts year five ofthe podcast.
We're over 300 episodes in andwe don't ask for money.
(20:00):
We ask our advertisers formoney.
So, we don't ask for moneyunless it's some charitable
event or something.
But if you've ever wanted tosupport me, shed Geek, we do
this for free.
This shows up in your email.
You turn on Spotify, boom,there we are.
You get on YouTube, there weare.
(20:21):
We put a lot of effort intothis.
We really want you guys to gocelebrate.
Vendors and advertisers,sponsors who support our show by
all means go Tell them.
Shed Geek sent you.
If you ever wanted to supportsomething that has no calls tied
to the shed industry, there'sno, there's no back door into
(20:44):
hoping that.
You know if you guys celebratewhat shed pro.
Or you know uh, uh, you knowthe zula or any of these
different things.
You know union grove lumber.
You know this has nothing to dowith the shed industry.
This is just a noble cause onmy behalf and that might be
(21:07):
nothing, Kelly, and I don't knowthat might be a lot on my
behalf If you have not pledgedyour personal conviction, your
business, your business.
If your business does not tithe, if you have something that
you're just inspired today, ifyou're not inspired by the
podcast, maybe you'll beinspired by calling Kelly,
(21:28):
talking to her, hearing herstory, getting to meet her team,
ask this is something we wantto support and I would ask that
if you were ever considering inany way shape or form, call her,
click on the link, donatesomething today.
I promise you $5 is welcome, Iguarantee it.
I've never found anorganization that says too
(21:49):
little is not enough.
There's no such thing.
So, you know, feel free to giveand don't find yourself falling
into the trap that Kelly wastalking about earlier.
That we all do, we all say thesame thing.
We all fall into that trap,right, we all fall into that
trap of like.
If there's anything I can do,let me know.
If there's any way I can help,let me know.
(22:10):
And it's like then one in oneear and out the next.
And it's really hard to beg onbehalf of people, right, and
really you shouldn't have to,because they should give the
free heart and I, and I believethat if God convicts them, they
will give them the free heart.
But I want to leave you with acouple thoughts here.
This is one of my favoritething about Simon Sinek and I'm
on this kick, uh, and you guysmay have heard me talking about,
you know, being a giver versusbeing a taker in this world and
(22:32):
what that means.
And Simon Sinek talks aboutthis.
He said he did an experiment.
There's a YouTube video outthere where he's talking about
this.
He said to the homeless person.
He said you know, when you're ahomeless person, we've all done
this, we all walk by someoneand you've seen the sign.
You know, if you want to give,you don't want to give whatever.
You know.
Give to me because I'm poor,give to me because I'm hungry.
(22:54):
Give to me because I'm a vet,give to me because I'm hungry.
Giving me because I'm a vet,giving me because I have a dog,
kids, whatever it is.
If you give, you pay for thatfeeling that you get that
feeling of goodwill.
When you give, you're payingfor that feeling.
It's a commercial transaction.
He says You're paying for thatfeeling of goodwill.
If you don't give, you can'tfeel good.
(23:15):
You either feel bad or you feelnothing.
You know, you, you, but youdon't feel good about not giving
.
So, and, and.
The question is it's like youknow, uh, he talked about the
soulless person.
He said you know, theytypically make about $40 or so a
day by sitting there sellingthis feeling of goodwill,
(23:35):
selling this feeling of goodwill.
If you'll give to me, you'llfeel good.
So, if you just give to me, youbought that feeling.
You feel good, you, you, you,you know and he says you know,
but I found that sometimes youcan change the narrative.
And he said what I did was youknow, I changed the sign and
this homeless lady made $40 intwo hours as opposed to $40 in
(23:57):
eight.
Eight sign and this homelesslady made $40 in two hours as
opposed to $40 in eight hours.
And he said what did the signsay?
He said I just changed the signto simply say this, I know you
can't give to everyone, so ifyou can only give once a month,
please conside
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Oh no.
Sam, what's going on?
Are you okay?
Yes, I'm fine, Lisa.
I was just trying to get ascrewdriver and all this other
stuff fell down.
I'm ready to go buy a shed sowe can have some space in this
garage again.
I agree, I keep looking at theshed Mr Jenkins bought.
Let's ask him where I got his.
(24:44):
Howdy neighbor, we're wonderinghow do you like your shed?
I love it.
It's exactly what I needed, andI couldn't have asked for a
better service.
And where did you get it?
Hmm, I can't remember, but letme check Something.
This nice will probably havethe builder's name on it
(25:04):
somewhere.
Hmm, no, I'm sorry, I can'tfind a name anywhere.
Well, we finally got a shed.
Yes, I just hope we're happy.
The thing is a lot more shoddythan I expected, and I'm sure I
(25:29):
told them I wanted a window, butthey didn't have it in the
paperwork so I couldn't argue.
Boy is this a lousy shed.
We haven't even had it twoyears, have we?
Barely.
It was just a bad deal all theway around.
Mr Jenkins told me the otherday that he likes his shed so
much he wants to get a secondone, but he still can't remember
(25:51):
where he got it.
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Shed Geek (26:10):
It's all about the giver and it's nothing about the
taker.
It's nothing about who I am.
I'm a vet.
He says corporations do thesame thing, don't we?
You know, we're the biggest,the baddest, the fastest, we've
been around, the longest.
We're this, we're that, we'rethat, blah, blah, blah, blah, me
, me, me, me, me.
He says, you know, but when youtake thinking about the giver,
(26:34):
you know you've addressed theirconcerns.
Well, I can only give once amonth.
I just ask that you wouldconsider me next time.
And because of that, we want toextend the offer to put an ad
in our newsletter for yourproject and hope to keep it in
front of people constantly when,if you don't give immediately,
maybe you'll give eventually,maybe you'll consider going and
you say what's this got to dowith sheds?
(26:55):
Nothing, nothing.
This is not about.
This is not about what you cantake from the podcast.
This is four years and 300episodes where we've never asked
you to do anything more thangive to the people who help,
sponsor and keep us on the air.
But in this situation, I wantto.
(27:16):
I want to call you guys toconsider giving to this cause,
because this cause is valuable.
And if you don't give everytime and you can't give every
time.
I would ask you, pleaseconsider Kelly's cause.
It'll always be here, available.
Make sure to put something onthe newsletter.
A few things that I want topoint out, and I spoke about
(27:37):
this in our keynote speechrecently.
Rick Warren, author of PurposeDriven Life, saddleback Church,
he says there's more promisesrelated to generosity than any
other promises in the Bible.
More promises related togenerosity.
Why does God want us to give?
Because you can give withoutloving, but you cannot love
(28:00):
without giving.
One of the most important Bibleverses, according to our faith,
is what it's John 3.16.
For God so loved the world,what did he do?
For God so loved the world, hegave his only begotten son.
It's better to what than what.
Everyone knows that it's betterto give than to receive.
(28:21):
Keywords in the Bible.
Everybody can believe that theword believe is important to the
Bible.
It's mentioned 272 times in theBible.
The word love extremelyimportant 714 times, but the
(28:41):
word give 2,152 times it'smentioned in the Bible.
So, we are called to give and Iwon't pander, I won't ask for
your money, because your moneyis not mine, it's not Kelly's,
it's not her cause, it's theLord's anyway.
So, if you feel convicted togive to this cause.
This is something we want tosupport.
(29:02):
I was so touched me and Deannawere personally by your story
that we said, as a business, weneed to find a reason to give,
and I've always been so drawn toprison and those who are in
prison and drug and alcoholrehabilitation.
But I love what you said.
You know the Bible verse thatyou know the best form of
(29:22):
religion it doesn't matter whatdenomination, what culture you
are to be able to give to widows, to be able to help children,
to be able to help those whocan't help themselves.
So, we believe in your cause.
We don't know you well, just tobe clear, we're not trying to
sell people on.
You know me and Kelly arebuddies and grew up together.
(29:43):
I'll tell you what we got.
Some things in common Bothmarried our high school
sweethearts.
You know me and Deanna's beenmarried for 25 years and we just
celebrated our anniversary andwe started at 15 years old in
high school.
You talked about beingvulnerable.
I'm not perfect.
I was very vulnerable when westarted a podcast.
We're still vulnerable to thisday because we have to put
thoughts and opinions out thereand others get the opportunity
to keep it to themselves andwe're not.
(30:03):
We're actually out there andwe're loud about our thoughts
and we hope that those thoughtsalign with people.
And this came to me while youwere doing your testimony there,
doing your testimony therebeing a good person costs
nothing, but not being generous,generous or charitable costs
you everything.
(30:24):
It's something that God justput on my heart while we were
here talking.
So, you know again, we don'tpander for, for giving hearts,
we ask for giving hearts.
But if you've ever wanted tosupport us four years of our
endeavors and who knows, Kelly,maybe it's going to be another
four years of trying to sign on,to work with you as a, as a
(30:45):
destination for us to be able topoint people to.
I believe businesses should dothat.
I think it's part of yourmission, your vision, mission,
vision and values.
It should be part of yourstatement.
You should care about more thanmaking a profit.
I think Simon Sinek says it.
It's right here, and I'll leaveyou with this thought it said
the fact of the matter is 100%of customers are people and 100%
(31:08):
of clients are people and 100%of employees are people.
I don't care how good yourproduct is, I don't care how
good your marketing is.
I don't care how good yourdesign is, if you don't
understand people, you don'tunderstand business.
Kelly Orrico (31:22):
Oh yeah, I love that.
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Kelly Orrico (32:21):
And I'll tell you one thing, like with businesses
specifically, it's one of thethings we do for our families,
you know, being a vulnerablepopulation, I mean I just think
as a woman walking into a car,an auto body shop, and it's like
they ask you oh, you got tochange your filter.
You're like, okay, you justtrust him, right.
And like the very, veryvulnerable population.
And there's a lot of anxietythat exists with our, with our
(32:42):
women, especially that when,when things need to be done on
the home and they have to hirepeople to do things, they have
to make these choices bythemselves.
Now and I've heard nightmarestories of them being taken
advantage of I mean nightmarestories, it stories of them
(33:03):
being taken advantage of, I meannightmare stories.
It makes me so sad that peopleexist like that in the world.
And so, one of the things thatwe do is we partner with good
businesses.
And when I say good, I meanpeople who care about people.
I know that you might not do thebest job in fixing their debt,
but you're not going to takeadvantage of our parent.
You're going to be loving andcareful and do the best you can
and you'll be honest, Right, andso we.
(33:23):
We have a whole thing we callKnoxville resources database and
it's full of businesses that weknow have good hearts, good
character.
That aligns with our missionand that's what we want to do.
We want to refer good companiesthat are going to do good
business as good people.
Shed Geek (33:39):
That's awesome, Kelly .
We're going to actually be inKnoxville, I think, in August or
September at the Shed Expo thisyear, so maybe we can connect
while we're down there.
I think Joe's going to be there, so we'll try to find a way to
make it work.
But I'm going to do something,because I always do this for
every guest and I didn't evenprepare you for this and I know
we've ran long on time andthat's OK.
(34:00):
I feel like it's God's timeanyway.
But.
But I always give the guest anopportunity to ask a question,
because normally I will spend awhole bunch of time interviewing
you, asking you a bunch ofquestions.
I was so happy that we justwound you up today and you took
off and you did great.
It was amazing.
We were so, so happy that youwere able to share your
testimony.
(34:20):
But we always give you a chanceto ask a question to me, Shed
Geek, whether it's Shed related,podcast related or just life in
general.
If you had a question to ask meabout anything, what would it
be?
Or do you have one at all?
Kelly Orrico (34:35):
Oh, that's great.
Well, first of all, I want tothank you so much, Shannon, for
having me on here and allowingme to tell the story and willing
to share what Widow ParentRelief Project does.
Like, thank you, thank you,thank you, thank you, thank you.
Like, I really have a questionabout, like, how, how you got
started in this.
Like, what possessed you todecide I want to do this podcast
(34:57):
and electronic.
You know, help within the shedindustry.
Like, how did that come to be?
Shed Geek (35:03):
I just so.
I, yeah, I started working inthe shed industry.
I sort of found it through amutual acquaintance who was an
old friend who worked in theindustry.
So, when I found myself in adepression at the lowest, I
reached out to him.
He got me a job and thenstarted going to church, found
God myself and was like, wow, Iwas on this mission all of a
(35:23):
sudden, and it's been a wildride.
I'm thankful that God has givenme this, but I like to think I'm
a people person.
We build a big brand on trust.
You talked about that, aboutcompanies you partner with.
It's huge for us.
I'd rather, again, you do amediocre job with 100% trust
(35:43):
than an excellent job, and Ifeel like I got to watch out for
you or something.
And I just, yeah, I was drivingaround all over the country
talking to these people tryingto get them signed up for
services and I was like you knowwhat I'm getting in my car
listening to these people tryingto get them signed up for
services, and I was like youknow what I'm getting in my car
(36:04):
listening to podcasts, listeningto audiobooks, and I'm like I
know this is crazy, but could wetalk about sheds?
And then I come to realize like, yes, we can.
Not only can we talk aboutsheds, but the conversations
have a lot of times, and so someof the listeners will agree
with this.
Uh, some will say I tune inbecause I like the parts that's
not about sheds.
Even so, we talk about faith,family, everything here.
We don't.
We try to bring it back to shedsas best we can, but the reality
(36:28):
is I just love to be aconversationalist.
I'm very interested in peopleand their stories and their
mission and what drives them.
I can drive from here toMichigan, to Utah, and I'll see
a house on the side of the road.
I'll be like wonder what thosepeople do, you know?
And my wife would tell you,give me five minutes and I'll
find out, cause if I see them,I'll just pull up and be like
tell me your story.
And they're like get out ofhere, you weirdo.
(36:49):
And I'm just like I believethis thought.
I believe that there's enoughfood in the world today to feed
everybody, right?
Now.
And for some reason that's nothappening, why we're not
(37:09):
communicating, why Somehowsomething's getting in the way
of that.
So, I believe we can do better,be better as people.
So yeah, that's really my story.
I'm just interested in othersand somehow I became like this
guy in the industry that's like,oh, you're the shed geek.
And I'm like, oh man, it's notabout me, it's one, it's about
him and it's about our guests.
(37:30):
I want to shine that light onyou guys.
Kelly Orrico (37:36):
So, people a lot of times will say, and I and I
get this cause I?
You know my story of lookingfor my purpose and feeling like
I need to have my work alignedwith God's mission, right?
Well, not every job is thatclear in that and it's like you
can love people wherever you'reat and make a difference in
anything that you're doing withthe people right in front of you
(37:58):
and the job in front of you,and so you're.
I love that about your, yourstory.
That's really cool, thedifference you're making.
Shed Geek (38:06):
It's been great Just talking to you, getting to know
you.
Deanna will probably reach outto you.
We'll try to get you a date setup for when this is coming out.
Kelly Orrico (38:16):
Let me know for sure when that is.
Shed Geek (38:20):
Absolutely Well.
We'll connect with you whenwe're down there again.
For you guys, be sure to go tothe website, check it out.
If you're not sure, make sureto sign up for our newsletter.
You'll be able to see the linkthere.
If you get the newsletter,you'll be able to see.
We'll eventually get a.
If we don't have it already bythe time this comes out, we'll
have the link there to thewebsite.
Go give, go give.
Be a giver today 2,152 times.
(38:40):
The Lord commands us to give.
We're going to give.
We ask that you would give.
So, if you ever wanted to dosomething to help me, if you're
not doing business with me, ifwe're not somehow working
together and you're like, oh man, go get five or 10 bucks today,
that would mean the world to me.
Kelly Orrico (38:58):
So, um make a big difference.
I appreciate that.
Thank you, Thank you.
Shed Geek (39:04):
Absolutely Well.
Thank you for being on today.
Uh nice, just nice to meet you.
Kelly Orrico (39:13):
Nice to get to know you Likewise, Right right
back at you.
Shed Geek (39:14):
I appreciate you.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to part two of a
two-part series here at the ShedGeek podcast.
If you missed part one, just goback to last week and listen
for more engaging conversationhere at the Shed Geek podcast
conversation here at the ShedGeek podcast.
Kelly Orrico (00:29):
Our mission is to alleviate everyday stressors and
help build an enduring supportsystem for widowed parents so
that they can spend more timewith their children and focus on
their family's mental healthand healing.
So, we partner with moms ordads who've lost their spouse
and have children living withthem in the home under the age
of 18 and have lost their spousewithin the children living with
them in the home under the ageof 18 and have lost their spouse
within the last three years.
We pick that number because theum everything's research-based
(00:52):
Um the mental health in thosefirst three years are critical
and that's really why we pickthree years.
Um, the number one predictor ofhow well a child will adjust to
the loss of their parent is thefunctioning level of the
surviving spouse.
So, it's like, okay, well, howcan we help our parents function
as best as they can whilethey're grieving and their
children are grieving to helpthem through this time Right and
(01:16):
so that?
So, what we do?
We have really two arms to whatwe do.
We have paid services that helpalleviate those stressors and
then we also have a familyfriend volunteer program that
does the other part.
So, the paid services that weoffer.
We walk alongside our familiesfor one year or more, but at
minimum one, and we pay formonthly cleaning services.
(01:37):
We pay for home organizing.
Both of those things areresearch-based about what, what
a clean house, what declutteringcan do for your cortisol levels
.
It's actually proven that, ifyou like, clutter and depression
are kind of cyclical and gotogether.
So it's like clean house, cleanmind kind of thing.
it's all science I love thatbecause I'm like cj it's
(01:58):
scientifically proven.
We should get a cleaning lady Ioperate the same way.
Shed Geek (02:04):
My wife will, will tell you I.
You know, some people can havea cluttered desk and they know
where everything's at.
They don't want anybody totouch it.
When everything's orderly forme, I just that's when I know
where things are at and, yeah, Iclean, house clean, mind clean,
whatever it is, I just feel Ifeel better.
(02:25):
So, yeah, I believe in thescience behind that.
Maybe I'm, maybe I'm justobsessive, compulsive, I'm not
really sure, Kelly, maybe.
But if you saw my desk rightnow, you would see that papers
are not slanted at angles,they're straight up and down.
There.
I'm a little bit OCD.
I've got things in their littlespots and they they're squared
(02:45):
off and I just love that.
I feel like I can breathewhenever I operate under that.
So, I totally get the science.
Whether it's the science or not, it makes sense to me.
Kelly Orrico (02:56):
Exactly Well, and I wish I had one 10th of that,
actually.
But now think about if youdidn't, if you weren't naturally
that person just start thereand your spouse was the one that
helped organize and clean.
And all of a sudden now, everytime you look at something that
is a mess, it's a reminder thatyour spouse is gone.
(03:18):
This goes for, like the lawncare.
You know, looking outside andseeing your all the bushes are
overgrown and there's weedsgrowing and that's embarrassing
to you for the neighbors to see,and you know, but you don't.
Everything becomes so big Everywhen you're, when you have this
big grief, the things that,like ordinarily, are like life's
burdens.
They feel like the weight ofthe world on your shoulder, and
(03:38):
so grief has this buildup ofthings in someone's home a lot
you know, and then it becomes sobig that you don't you don't
even have the energy to tackleit.
And so, a clean house and youknow, clean sheets for the kids,
and like that's.
There's a healthiness part ofthat too, right, so but the and
then the home organizing.
It's like we've helped people.
I've got my husband's office.
(03:59):
It's been sitting there.
I don't can't bring myself togo through it and we could use
that space for a playroom ormove the teenager into their own
space or whatever.
Fill in the blank, there'salways things so we've sent.
Many parents have come to us andlike we bought this home and we
were going to rebuild, we weregoing to, you know, renovate it,
and then he died and now it'slike half renovated.
It's like, oh my gosh, you know, there's just so much going on
(04:23):
and so that can really help withthat kind of thing.
And then we also pay forself-care stipends and so
oftentimes this is again foranyone really grieving the first
thing that goes out the windowis really caring for yourself.
But now, if you're a parent,all your energy is going to your
kid and you feel bad steppingaway for yourself to go out with
(04:43):
friends.
You feel bad about that.
You feel bad about spendingmoney on yourself because, also,
you might not know where yourfinances are.
Everything's in like limbo,right, a lot going on there, and
so oftentimes they're notspending any money on themselves
and they don't want to get ababysitter and whatnot.
So it's like, hey, here's somefunds and we want you to spend
that money because if you'rerefreshed, you're going to be a
better parent.
(05:03):
And so how are you going tomake sure that you spend that
money?
Oh, we have a family friend,volunteer who's going to walk
alongside you, and not only arethey going to look out for your
self-care, but they're alsogoing to ask you about all the
other challenges that you havegoing on in your life.
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Kelly Orrico (06:39):
A widow again at any age will experience 20 to 50
secondary losses.
So, honestly, it's no, it's nowonder that we don't know what
to do and how to help somebody.
So, it's like I mean I couldhelp her with that, but does she
need that?
I don't know, maybe she's goodat that and she doesn't need
that.
I mean, if CJ died, it'd belike someone come over here and
tell me how to turn my TV on.
(07:00):
I'm like I, Frankie, my turntwo and I handed my kid my
remote and CJ did it the othertime.
I haven't touched a remote in20 years.
Like you know how much TVs havechanged in 20 years.
Like I wouldn't have a clue.
So, I probably would just neverwatch TV again.
Like I would need someone forjust something as simple as
turning a television on.
And I feel like I'mtechnologically savvy, but TVs
scare me.
(07:20):
So, anyways, the family friendis going to ask these questions.
They're gonna be like what areyour challenges?
What's burdening you?
And then they're going to reachout to the community, the
people who want to help you butdon't know how and or what you
need, and they're going to say,hey, could you help with this?
And everyone's going to go?
Yeah, because we want help, andso we do that.
(07:42):
And what's awesome is some ofour families don't have anybody.
They moved here during COVIDhusband got sick, died, and they
don't have anybody.
They don't have family, notfriends.
It's like you know they'restarting from scratch.
Other people have a supportsystem, but remember what
studies show oftentimes theylose their friends and family.
(08:03):
This chasm forms because theydon't know what to say, because
there's a parent, who does havea role in this, needs to be able
to say what they need, and mostpeople don't.
We as humans, just don't.
We just don't.
It's just.
It's oftentimes we don't.
If you do, God bless you,because that is what you should
be doing, because people want tohelp, right?
(08:24):
So, this family friend is aliaison between this already
community that loves you anddoesn't want to leave you and
the parent, and they'll preventthat chasm from happening, which
is really awesome.
So, there's that too.
But sometimes parents come ontoo late in that element it's
never too late to come on, butlike that part, that has already
(08:45):
happened to them and so againthey're alone, they feel alone,
or maybe they just don't want totalk to those people anymore
because there was a tragic deathand they, they need to separate
themselves from that community.
Now, like that happens too,everything's understandable and
everything's your own, feelgrieved.
There's no wrong way to grieve.
(09:05):
So, it's like, listen, we justwant to meet you where you're at
and help build this enduringsupport system for you, how that
looks to you Right.
And so, we engage the community, we engage friends, and that's
part of our mission, is to dothat.
Shed Geek (09:19):
I'll tell you what I.
I love it because I think Itold you before coming on here,
a couple of things.
One you know just how immersedwe are in, like the Anabaptist
community, the plain community,there's a huge amount of Amish
and Mennonite culture that'sinside our industry and I don't
(09:42):
know, you know, anybody who doesculture or who does community
better.
They just have.
I mean, every time I talk tosomebody they're like you know
they've attended like 30weddings this year.
You know what I mean.
They're like we go to this oneand this one and this one and,
like funerals and just supportgroups and just the internal
workings and mechanisms thatthey create.
And this is one thing that, forthose of us who weren't raised
(10:03):
into that world, you know, inthat culture the world's, the
world's a little bit harsh, it'sa little bit hard, it's a
little bit cold.
And you know, community seemsto be a far, far and away
removed from what I felt like itwas for me growing up.
You know, we grew up around allof our cousins, you know, and
(10:25):
that wasn't near what my momtalks about, the closeness of
family for them.
And I know my kids just haven'tgot to experience quite the
same.
We're always in demand, workingtrying to make a living, can't
make it to this, can't make itto that, miss a wedding, miss
something or another, and wedon't prioritize necessarily a
lot of the right things.
And I think that that'shappening more and more to the
(10:47):
nuclear family in many ways,shapes and forms.
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Shed Geek (12:34):
So, you know, I knew whenever we got to talking, I
just I loved your testimony tobegin with.
We have a, you know we have aministry.
I believe God gives us all theministry I've talked about for a
long time.
You know there's a littlefarther to get into Hebrews, and
Hebrews 13, 3 says be withthose in prison, as though
you're in prison yourself, andwe've done a lot of faith-based
(12:56):
drug and alcohol rehabilitationand even prison ministry in our
time, and I'm in a bit of adesert there.
I believe that that is andalways will be, because I don't
think a calling that's placed onyour life leaves your life.
But I'm in a bit of a desertmoment for that and we just
(13:18):
haven't found the right outlet.
But the one thing I know isthat either you know, like when
God brings you success and we'vejust had, you know, just some
really cool moments in the lastfour years because of the
podcast connecting with peoplelearning people's stories.
This networking works.
Right, it starts to meet morepeople.
You throw out a net.
We met Joe Next thing you know.
Through Joe, we met Kelly.
(13:39):
Right, it starts to meet morepeople.
You throw out a net.
We met Joe Next thing you know.
Through Joe, we met Kelly.
Right, maybe Kelly meetssomeone because of the podcast,
I don't know, but I think that'show God, sort of like, made it
work and none of us get to sitback and be like we're the
reason, we're the, we're thereason, like you know the reason
, and it's God and I love it.
So I hope someone's blessed byyour story.
But us, as a company Shed Geek,you know, I just really wanted a
(14:02):
place that we could publiclytalk about who and where we're
helping and who we lineourselves up with and what we do
as a company.
And when I heard your story Iwas just really so touched by it
.
I mean the magic, you know, ofyour mom going home, you know,
on May 3rd, and your stroke ayear later on May 2nd, and you
(14:27):
know the day to celebratemothers and orphans being May
3rd.
Just listen to the whole story.
We got a chance to be there.
It was very emotional.
It was.
It's very emotional, it wasvery raw and it was very real
and it was something that wejust took away.
Uh, there were so many goodstories there.
You know there were so manyother people that that talked
and, uh, and, and we'reconnected with a lot of people
(14:50):
that have a lot of uh.
You know things that they, youknow, believe in.
Um, you know couldn't be anymore proud of.
You know, Sam.
I know you don't know Sam, youknow believe in.
You know couldn't be any moreproud of.
You know, Sam.
I know you don't know Sam, butyou know I was telling you about
what they're doing with, youknow sheds in North Carolina and
being able to give those awaythe tornado relief here near our
home in West Kentucky wheneverit came through Mayfield last
(15:11):
year.
You know last year has been acouple of years now.
You know we were able to cometogether with Sam between the
podcast and the shuttle atbrotherhood.
I think we raised somethinglike $50,000 in in 24 hours.
We even hey, we even did a uhuh, a shout out to um uh, chip
(15:32):
gains on Instagram and chipactually answered on Instagram
and he gave us $10,000 towardsthe calls of and you know, you
know, you know it was the mostawesome thing Kelly is like
whenever we would go and wewould give away these generators
.
I knew that a lot of thesefolks in the Mayfield community
(15:55):
before the tornado probablywatched the learning channel or
Magnolia network or whatever itwas Right, and they knew who
chip and Joanna were.
Most people do A lot of peoplereally do and and I knew that if
I said, hey, these were donatedto you by the shed geek, people
would be like, okay, great,don't know what that means.
But instead I was able to say,well, I'm not exactly sure which
(16:16):
of his $10,000 went towardswhich generator, so I just
assumed any generator I grabbedwas donated by him.
And it gave me the authority tosay, hey, have you ever heard
of Chip Gaines?
And they were like, yeah, likeon the Learning Channel.
And I was like, yeah, hedonated this generator to you.
Kelly Orrico (16:36):
I love that.
Shed Geek (16:38):
And that was so powerful because I was like, oh
God, bless him, tell him.
We said thank you and I waslike I don't really have that
kind of access to him, but itwas just kind of nice to be like
.
You know, what he stands for asa brand is his walk with Christ
and he lives that publicly.
And because he gave you knowwhat I mean, I didn't need the
(17:03):
glory, you know what I mean.
Like that's not what it wasabout.
It was about the ability togive.
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Shed Geek (18:51):
Right now, we just have not.
I mean, hey, we support Sam, wesupport all of these different
endeavors, the tornado cleanups,storm, storm cleanups, all
these things.
But I heard your story and Ithought, man, we just really
need to get behind something.
So we're going to dedicatesomething Me and Deanna will
dedicate something ourselves toyour effort, but and you know,
and I don't know what that'll be, but we're going to donate and
(19:14):
but, more than anything, we'regoing to put a link, uh, for
those of you get the newsletter,uh, the email newsletter that
comes out every Monday,Wednesday and Friday, we'll put
a link.
Not only there'll be that onethere, today's episode that
might've been how you heardabout it, but we'll put it.
We'll put a link to Kelly'swebsite here www.
wprp.
(19:36):
org.
So Widowed Parent ReliefProject W-P-R-P.
And there is a donate buttonright on here that you can give.
I encourage you to go and give.
Hey, listen, I'm not going towear you guys out the listeners
with this.
I try not to do that.
I always tell you guys we'restarting year five.
This week starts year five ofthe podcast.
We're over 300 episodes in andwe don't ask for money.
(20:00):
We ask our advertisers formoney.
So, we don't ask for moneyunless it's some charitable
event or something.
But if you've ever wanted tosupport me, shed Geek, we do
this for free.
This shows up in your email.
You turn on Spotify, boom,there we are.
You get on YouTube, there weare.
(20:21):
We put a lot of effort intothis.
We really want you guys to gocelebrate.
Vendors and advertisers,sponsors who support our show by
all means go Tell them.
Shed Geek sent you.
If you ever wanted to supportsomething that has no calls tied
to the shed industry, there'sno, there's no back door into
(20:44):
hoping that.
You know if you guys celebratewhat shed pro.
Or you know uh, uh, you knowthe zula or any of these
different things.
You know union grove lumber.
You know this has nothing to dowith the shed industry.
This is just a noble cause onmy behalf and that might be
(21:07):
nothing, Kelly, and I don't knowthat might be a lot on my
behalf If you have not pledgedyour personal conviction, your
business, your business.
If your business does not tithe, if you have something that
you're just inspired today, ifyou're not inspired by the
podcast, maybe you'll beinspired by calling Kelly,
(21:28):
talking to her, hearing herstory, getting to meet her team,
ask this is something we wantto support and I would ask that
if you were ever considering inany way shape or form, call her,
click on the link, donatesomething today.
I promise you $5 is welcome, Iguarantee it.
I've never found anorganization that says too
(21:49):
little is not enough.
There's no such thing.
So, you know, feel free to giveand don't find yourself falling
into the trap that Kelly wastalking about earlier.
That we all do, we all say thesame thing.
We all fall into that trap,right, we all fall into that
trap of like.
If there's anything I can do,let me know.
If there's any way I can help,let me know.
(22:10):
And it's like then one in oneear and out the next.
And it's really hard to beg onbehalf of people, right, and
really you shouldn't have to,because they should give the
free heart and I, and I believethat if God convicts them, they
will give them the free heart.
But I want to leave you with acouple thoughts here.
This is one of my favoritething about Simon Sinek and I'm
on this kick, uh, and you guysmay have heard me talking about,
you know, being a giver versusbeing a taker in this world and
(22:32):
what that means.
And Simon Sinek talks aboutthis.
He said he did an experiment.
There's a YouTube video outthere where he's talking about
this.
He said to the homeless person.
He said you know, when you're ahomeless person, we've all done
this, we all walk by someoneand you've seen the sign.
You know, if you want to give,you don't want to give whatever.
You know.
Give to me because I'm poor,give to me because I'm hungry.
(22:54):
Give to me because I'm a vet,give to me because I'm hungry.
Giving me because I'm a vet,giving me because I have a dog,
kids, whatever it is.
If you give, you pay for thatfeeling that you get that
feeling of goodwill.
When you give, you're payingfor that feeling.
It's a commercial transaction.
He says You're paying for thatfeeling of goodwill.
If you don't give, you can'tfeel good.
(23:15):
You either feel bad or you feelnothing.
You know, you, you, but youdon't feel good about not giving
.
So, and, and.
The question is it's like youknow, uh, he talked about the
soulless person.
He said you know, theytypically make about $40 or so a
day by sitting there sellingthis feeling of goodwill,
(23:35):
selling this feeling of goodwill.
If you'll give to me, you'llfeel good.
So, if you just give to me, youbought that feeling.
You feel good, you, you, you,you know and he says you know,
but I found that sometimes youcan change the narrative.
And he said what I did was youknow, I changed the sign and
this homeless lady made $40 intwo hours as opposed to $40 in
(23:57):
eight.
Eight sign and this homelesslady made $40 in two hours as
opposed to $40 in eight hours.
And he said what did the signsay?
He said I just changed the signto simply say this, I know you
can't give to everyone, so ifyou can only give once a month,
please conside
ADVERTISEMENT (24:17):
Oh no.
Sam, what's going on?
Are you okay?
Yes, I'm fine, Lisa.
I was just trying to get ascrewdriver and all this other
stuff fell down.
I'm ready to go buy a shed sowe can have some space in this
garage again.
I agree, I keep looking at theshed Mr Jenkins bought.
Let's ask him where I got his.
(24:44):
Howdy neighbor, we're wonderinghow do you like your shed?
I love it.
It's exactly what I needed, andI couldn't have asked for a
better service.
And where did you get it?
Hmm, I can't remember, but letme check Something.
This nice will probably havethe builder's name on it
(25:04):
somewhere.
Hmm, no, I'm sorry, I can'tfind a name anywhere.
Well, we finally got a shed.
Yes, I just hope we're happy.
The thing is a lot more shoddythan I expected, and I'm sure I
(25:29):
told them I wanted a window, butthey didn't have it in the
paperwork so I couldn't argue.
Boy is this a lousy shed.
We haven't even had it twoyears, have we?
Barely.
It was just a bad deal all theway around.
Mr Jenkins told me the otherday that he likes his shed so
much he wants to get a secondone, but he still can't remember
(25:51):
where he got it.
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Shed Geek (26:10):
It's all about the giver and it's nothing about the
taker.
It's nothing about who I am.
I'm a vet.
He says corporations do thesame thing, don't we?
You know, we're the biggest,the baddest, the fastest, we've
been around, the longest.
We're this, we're that, we'rethat, blah, blah, blah, blah, me
, me, me, me, me.
He says, you know, but when youtake thinking about the giver,
(26:34):
you know you've addressed theirconcerns.
Well, I can only give once amonth.
I just ask that you wouldconsider me next time.
And because of that, we want toextend the offer to put an ad
in our newsletter for yourproject and hope to keep it in
front of people constantly when,if you don't give immediately,
maybe you'll give eventually,maybe you'll consider going and
you say what's this got to dowith sheds?
(26:55):
Nothing, nothing.
This is not about.
This is not about what you cantake from the podcast.
This is four years and 300episodes where we've never asked
you to do anything more thangive to the people who help,
sponsor and keep us on the air.
But in this situation, I wantto.
(27:16):
I want to call you guys toconsider giving to this cause,
because this cause is valuable.
And if you don't give everytime and you can't give every
time.
I would ask you, pleaseconsider Kelly's cause.
It'll always be here, available.
Make sure to put something onthe newsletter.
A few things that I want topoint out, and I spoke about
(27:37):
this in our keynote speechrecently.
Rick Warren, author of PurposeDriven Life, saddleback Church,
he says there's more promisesrelated to generosity than any
other promises in the Bible.
More promises related togenerosity.
Why does God want us to give?
Because you can give withoutloving, but you cannot love
(28:00):
without giving.
One of the most important Bibleverses, according to our faith,
is what it's John 3.16.
For God so loved the world,what did he do?
For God so loved the world, hegave his only begotten son.
It's better to what than what.
Everyone knows that it's betterto give than to receive.
(28:21):
Keywords in the Bible.
Everybody can believe that theword believe is important to the
Bible.
It's mentioned 272 times in theBible.
The word love extremelyimportant 714 times, but the
(28:41):
word give 2,152 times it'smentioned in the Bible.
So, we are called to give and Iwon't pander, I won't ask for
your money, because your moneyis not mine, it's not Kelly's,
it's not her cause, it's theLord's anyway.
So, if you feel convicted togive to this cause.
This is something we want tosupport.
(29:02):
I was so touched me and Deannawere personally by your story
that we said, as a business, weneed to find a reason to give,
and I've always been so drawn toprison and those who are in
prison and drug and alcoholrehabilitation.
But I love what you said.
You know the Bible verse thatyou know the best form of
(29:22):
religion it doesn't matter whatdenomination, what culture you
are to be able to give to widows, to be able to help children,
to be able to help those whocan't help themselves.
So, we believe in your cause.
We don't know you well, just tobe clear, we're not trying to
sell people on.
You know me and Kelly arebuddies and grew up together.
(29:43):
I'll tell you what we got.
Some things in common Bothmarried our high school
sweethearts.
You know me and Deanna's beenmarried for 25 years and we just
celebrated our anniversary andwe started at 15 years old in
high school.
You talked about beingvulnerable.
I'm not perfect.
I was very vulnerable when westarted a podcast.
We're still vulnerable to thisday because we have to put
thoughts and opinions out thereand others get the opportunity
to keep it to themselves andwe're not.
(30:03):
We're actually out there andwe're loud about our thoughts
and we hope that those thoughtsalign with people.
And this came to me while youwere doing your testimony there,
doing your testimony therebeing a good person costs
nothing, but not being generous,generous or charitable costs
you everything.
(30:24):
It's something that God justput on my heart while we were
here talking.
So, you know again, we don'tpander for, for giving hearts,
we ask for giving hearts.
But if you've ever wanted tosupport us four years of our
endeavors and who knows, Kelly,maybe it's going to be another
four years of trying to sign on,to work with you as a, as a
(30:45):
destination for us to be able topoint people to.
I believe businesses should dothat.
I think it's part of yourmission, your vision, mission,
vision and values.
It should be part of yourstatement.
You should care about more thanmaking a profit.
I think Simon Sinek says it.
It's right here, and I'll leaveyou with this thought it said
the fact of the matter is 100%of customers are people and 100%
(31:08):
of clients are people and 100%of employees are people.
I don't care how good yourproduct is, I don't care how
good your marketing is.
I don't care how good yourdesign is, if you don't
understand people, you don'tunderstand business.
Kelly Orrico (31:22):
Oh yeah, I love that.
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Kelly Orrico (32:21):
And I'll tell you one thing, like with businesses
specifically, it's one of thethings we do for our families,
you know, being a vulnerablepopulation, I mean I just think
as a woman walking into a car,an auto body shop, and it's like
they ask you oh, you got tochange your filter.
You're like, okay, you justtrust him, right.
And like the very, veryvulnerable population.
And there's a lot of anxietythat exists with our, with our
(32:42):
women, especially that when,when things need to be done on
the home and they have to hirepeople to do things, they have
to make these choices bythemselves.
Now and I've heard nightmarestories of them being taken
advantage of I mean nightmarestories, it stories of them
(33:03):
being taken advantage of, I meannightmare stories.
It makes me so sad that peopleexist like that in the world.
And so, one of the things thatwe do is we partner with good
businesses.
And when I say good, I meanpeople who care about people.
I know that you might not do thebest job in fixing their debt,
but you're not going to takeadvantage of our parent.
You're going to be loving andcareful and do the best you can
and you'll be honest, Right, andso we.
(33:23):
We have a whole thing we callKnoxville resources database and
it's full of businesses that weknow have good hearts, good
character.
That aligns with our missionand that's what we want to do.
We want to refer good companiesthat are going to do good
business as good people.
Shed Geek (33:39):
That's awesome, Kelly .
We're going to actually be inKnoxville, I think, in August or
September at the Shed Expo thisyear, so maybe we can connect
while we're down there.
I think Joe's going to be there, so we'll try to find a way to
make it work.
But I'm going to do something,because I always do this for
every guest and I didn't evenprepare you for this and I know
we've ran long on time andthat's OK.
(34:00):
I feel like it's God's timeanyway.
But.
But I always give the guest anopportunity to ask a question,
because normally I will spend awhole bunch of time interviewing
you, asking you a bunch ofquestions.
I was so happy that we justwound you up today and you took
off and you did great.
It was amazing.
We were so, so happy that youwere able to share your
testimony.
(34:20):
But we always give you a chanceto ask a question to me, Shed
Geek, whether it's Shed related,podcast related or just life in
general.
If you had a question to ask meabout anything, what would it
be?
Or do you have one at all?
Kelly Orrico (34:35):
Oh, that's great.
Well, first of all, I want tothank you so much, Shannon, for
having me on here and allowingme to tell the story and willing
to share what Widow ParentRelief Project does.
Like, thank you, thank you,thank you, thank you, thank you.
Like, I really have a questionabout, like, how, how you got
started in this.
Like, what possessed you todecide I want to do this podcast
(34:57):
and electronic.
You know, help within the shedindustry.
Like, how did that come to be?
Shed Geek (35:03):
I just so.
I, yeah, I started working inthe shed industry.
I sort of found it through amutual acquaintance who was an
old friend who worked in theindustry.
So, when I found myself in adepression at the lowest, I
reached out to him.
He got me a job and thenstarted going to church, found
God myself and was like, wow, Iwas on this mission all of a
(35:23):
sudden, and it's been a wildride.
I'm thankful that God has givenme this, but I like to think I'm
a people person.
We build a big brand on trust.
You talked about that, aboutcompanies you partner with.
It's huge for us.
I'd rather, again, you do amediocre job with 100% trust
(35:43):
than an excellent job, and Ifeel like I got to watch out for
you or something.
And I just, yeah, I was drivingaround all over the country
talking to these people tryingto get them signed up for
services and I was like you knowwhat I'm getting in my car
listening to these people tryingto get them signed up for
services, and I was like youknow what I'm getting in my car
(36:04):
listening to podcasts, listeningto audiobooks, and I'm like I
know this is crazy, but could wetalk about sheds?
And then I come to realize like, yes, we can.
Not only can we talk aboutsheds, but the conversations
have a lot of times, and so someof the listeners will agree
with this.
Uh, some will say I tune inbecause I like the parts that's
not about sheds.
Even so, we talk about faith,family, everything here.
We don't.
We try to bring it back to shedsas best we can, but the reality
(36:28):
is I just love to be aconversationalist.
I'm very interested in peopleand their stories and their
mission and what drives them.
I can drive from here toMichigan, to Utah, and I'll see
a house on the side of the road.
I'll be like wonder what thosepeople do, you know?
And my wife would tell you,give me five minutes and I'll
find out, cause if I see them,I'll just pull up and be like
tell me your story.
And they're like get out ofhere, you weirdo.
(36:49):
And I'm just like I believethis thought.
I believe that there's enoughfood in the world today to feed
everybody, right?
Now.
And for some reason that's nothappening, why we're not
(37:09):
communicating, why Somehowsomething's getting in the way
of that.
So, I believe we can do better,be better as people.
So yeah, that's really my story.
I'm just interested in othersand somehow I became like this
guy in the industry that's like,oh, you're the shed geek.
And I'm like, oh man, it's notabout me, it's one, it's about
him and it's about our guests.
(37:30):
I want to shine that light onyou guys.
Kelly Orrico (37:36):
So, people a lot of times will say, and I and I
get this cause I?
You know my story of lookingfor my purpose and feeling like
I need to have my work alignedwith God's mission, right?
Well, not every job is thatclear in that and it's like you
can love people wherever you'reat and make a difference in
anything that you're doing withthe people right in front of you
(37:58):
and the job in front of you,and so you're.
I love that about your, yourstory.
That's really cool, thedifference you're making.
Shed Geek (38:06):
It's been great Just talking to you, getting to know
you.
Deanna will probably reach outto you.
We'll try to get you a date setup for when this is coming out.
Kelly Orrico (38:16):
Let me know for sure when that is.
Shed Geek (38:20):
Absolutely Well.
We'll connect with you whenwe're down there again.
For you guys, be sure to go tothe website, check it out.
If you're not sure, make sureto sign up for our newsletter.
You'll be able to see the linkthere.
If you get the newsletter,you'll be able to see.
We'll eventually get a.
If we don't have it already bythe time this comes out, we'll
have the link there to thewebsite.
Go give, go give.
Be a giver today 2,152 times.
(38:40):
The Lord commands us to give.
We're going to give.
We ask that you would give.
So, if you ever wanted to dosomething to help me, if you're
not doing business with me, ifwe're not somehow working
together and you're like, oh man, go get five or 10 bucks today,
that would mean the world to me.
Kelly Orrico (38:58):
So, um make a big difference.
I appreciate that.
Thank you, Thank you.
Shed Geek (39:04):
Absolutely Well.
Thank you for being on today.
Uh nice, just nice to meet you.
Kelly Orrico (39:13):
Nice to get to know you Likewise, Right right
back at you.
Shed Geek (39:14):
I appreciate you.
Thank you.
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