Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 2 with Annmarie O'Grady

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome back to Community Connections and Commerce. I'm Drake Watson,
joined as always by Wendy Anderson, and we're thrilled to
be joined by Rio Grady from a Special Wish Foundation
in the Ohio Valley chapter. Thanks again so much for
jumping on this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning, Memory, How are you.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Fine, Wendy, thank you both for having me here.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
You're welcome. We're excited to hear from you. And I
want everybody to know exactly what a Special Wish is well.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I would love to be able to tell everyone.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Okay, so you are the executive director of a Special
Wish in the Ohio Valley. I just kind of want
to get a grasp on on what that entails and
what that's kind of all about, and as Wendy mentioned earlier,
what the difference is between that and make a wish.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Sure, I'd love to be able to expand on that.
So A Special Wish Foundation is an Ohio based children's
wish granting organization with several chapters throughout the state of Ohio.
The Ohio Valley chapter is what I am the director of,
and we cover southeastern Ohio as well as four counties
in West Virginia. Hancock Brooke Marshall in Ohio. And that's

(01:20):
what makes us a little different from our other Ohio
chapters is that West Virginia High Valley piece. Every wish
that we grant is local. And that is the best
thing about our organization is every child, every adolescent here
is here in the Ohio Valley that we grant wishes to.
It's not someone that you maybe in another part of

(01:42):
the state or another part of the country.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
How many counties did you say we're in Ohio that
you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Well, we have the southeastern part of Ohio, you know,
starting up in Jefferson County, working its way down and
then those four counties in West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay, because we talk all the time about the Ohio Valley,
kind of get lost and what's what's lumped in there
and what's what's not so, but I think you're pretty
closely aligned with what we what we're going to be
talking about.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yep. Yes, it's very much resembles a congressional district. The
way or the date is broken up into regions the chapters.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, so you grant these wishes. I'd like you to
speak on if you could, the types of wishes we
have you guys give special gifts, special places, and special heroes.
If you could expand on that a little bit and
tell us a little more about how you guys are
involved in those roles.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Sure, pretty much. We can grant almost any wish that
is asked of us. The two things we're not allowed
to do is international travel and cruises. And really it
does make sense if you think about it. These children
are ill, yeah, and the last thing we would want
would be for them to be out of the country
or out in the middle of the ocean on a ship.
But we can if you want to meet someone, we

(02:53):
can do that. We have had a couple of our
wish recipients meet their favorite Pittsburgh Pirate player throughout the
first pitch, and another young lady from Moundsville wanted to
meet the owner of the Reptorium in Unicom, Michigan. That
was probably one of my favorites. That cool wish. Yes,
it was just so different and through the help of

(03:15):
our Columbus chapter that had connections at Columbus Zoo that
knew this gentleman out of Utica, Michigan that run he
ran the Reptorium. It's the world's largest reptile zoo. We
were able to send her there and he, the owner,
spent the entire day with her and brought her and
her family back the next day, so that was awesome.

(03:35):
You know, a special place our number one requested trip
is disney World. Those are fun wishes because they don't
just get Disney World. They've get Universal Studios and SeaWorld,
and they get to stayed a place called Give Kids
the World Village and then special gift. I'm in the process.
We're doing an above ground swimming pool. This is the
second one we've done. We've done extremely elaborate place with fencing.

(04:01):
We fenced in the yard play set, so really everything's
on the table and that's where my board comes, you know,
comes and becomes involved and what can what wish can
we do? We always want to do their first request
if possible.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
So the last the one wish that I was involved
with the several wishes that you you know, the reveal, right,
and that was like that pulled in our heartstrings. I
mean to see the kids and their families, and I
think it was in the extended family of not only
the child who wants that wish, but to see the
other people around them. Just it's just amazing. It is

(04:39):
just amazing. It truly is our wish reveals.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
That is when we revealed to not only the wish
child but their family what wish we will be able
to grant for them. They're some of my favorites because
it is just wonderful to see their expressions, to see,
you know, how happy they are. We always tell them,
you know not you can invite anyone you want there,
your family member's friends, because this is extremely special and

(05:04):
you want everyone close to you in your life and
in the child's life to experience this joy with them.
And they're my favorites. I just love doing wish reveals.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
They're great stories to hear about. Great hearing about them
now and even reading about them. How often, however, are
you present for some of those times when kids go
to different places or they meet different people. I mean,
we've all got smiles on our faces hearing about these
stories now. I can't imagine what you would be feeling
if you were present in that moment.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Well, I don't get to go on the trips, but
just you know, my job every day is being involved
with the families and the wishes. So it's planning the
wish Okay, from logistics of it, yeah, funding, funding for it,
all of it. It's just all rolled into one. Granting
the wishes. I just don't actually get to go on

(05:51):
if it's a wish trip though, I think that should
be a new clause.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
It still feels good for you to get that report
back to to hear how it went and hear how
satisfied the kid was absolutely.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Seeing the pictures that mom or dad said while they're
on their trip, just seeing how much fun they're having
in the smiles. I mean, that's just seeing the smiles
on their faces is the best feeling in the world.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I just saw on Facebook the scuba scuba diving and
the smiles on their faces. Yes, was so awesome because
they don't get to smile very often because they're battling
with some kind of disease. Yes, And that has to
make you feel good when you go to bed at night.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
It does. And when I'm having a hard day, because
it is sometimes we're are dealing with six children, I
remember that and that's what keeps you going because this
is why we do what we do is to get
those smiles, and it's all worth it.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
I was going to ask you to expand a little
more on the why. We talk about the smiles and
the good feelings and everything, your why and also how
you kind of got started and what your motivation was
to get involved in.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
This realm's it's kind of ironic how life works. Years
and years ago, I remember telling my husband, you know,
I'm a mother. At the time, I had two small
children and I was working. I said, I feel like
there's something moreish I'm supposed to be doing. And at
the time I remember saying, you know, maybe get involved
with You know, I knew I knew of Make a Wish,

(07:14):
but someone told me about the local wish graining agency
Special Wish and doctor John Maddox who started the chapter
back in nineteen ninety two. And I thought about it,
but you know, you do get busy, especially with small children.
But I always felt like there's more I should be doing.
I need to be doing something meaningful. And just by chance,
in twenty sixteen, a friend of mine, Alisha, was on

(07:38):
the board of a Special Wish and I got to
know her through the Chamber of Commerce YEP, and just
in talking she asked I would be interested in being
on the board, and I said absolutely. You know, I
was voted on and I spent four years on the
Board of Directors for a Special Wish. The last two
was board president and Alicia in turn became the director

(07:59):
during that time, and when she was leaving, it just
worked out that I stepped in as the director and
I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Right now, I'm very
honored to be able to do what I do.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
You are exactly what it needs. Well, thank you are
the face of a Special Wish. You and your board
members and your advisory board. It's you guys do so
much for the community. So partly so where did you
What was your your college experience? Like, where did you

(08:35):
go to college?

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Well, I went to high university. I did my first
two years at a high university Eastern Okay. And then
at the time, as a communications major, you had to
go to main campus, So I did my last two
years on main campus, which was wonderful. I'm glad I
got to experience both. And I was a communications major.
My degrees and interpersonal communications. Oh, I didn't know that, Yes,

(08:58):
that is what my and however, it's just so funny
how life works, because when I was in high school.
I did not like government, couldn't care less. When I
was at OUE. There's a professor there who's on my
advisory board now, Michael mctegue. That changed everything. Oh my gosh.
I fell in love with government, politics, history. Wish I

(09:21):
would have paid more attention in high school. I always
tell him he changed my life because if it were
for having him, I would not have taken the next steps.
And with his help I went to work on the
congressional campaign in nineteen ninety four. When from there it
just changed everything and I ended up in DC after

(09:44):
I graduated. Never thought I would be there. Wow, that
was definitely not in my plan.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
So you were a comms major, just like myself. How
do you think, kind of selfishly, how do you think
that prepared you not only in what you do currently,
I mean most importantly in what you're doing today, but
almost every aspect in your life so far.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Oh, in many ways, believe it or not. I was
shy at one time, but being you know, having to
do public speaking and learning how to give a speech
and how to debate and how to write. You know,
I had wonderful instructors at OUI, but also on main
campus with I was in the journalism school because my

(10:24):
minor was public relations, so I took a lot of
journalism classes and just how to write, how to edit it,
just in so many different ways, how to come out
of my shell. It was just I can't say enough
about my experience. It was just wonderful. The professors I had,
they had experience, They worked in the field that they taught,

(10:46):
and that meant so much. It makes a difference. It
was it really, it really does, because they know what
they're talking about. They really did. Wow. So yeah, so
going to OUI having Michael mctigue as my professor changed
every thing.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
That's so funny. We're all like shaking our heads. We
love Michael McTeague.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
He's fantastic, he really is.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
I had him a couple semesters ago, probably my favorite
class of that first and that was my first semester
in college. And yeah, I mean that was he made it.
He made you want to listen. Now, I happen to
be interested in what he was teaching, but but I
had both ears, you know, locked in on what he
was saying at all times.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
He made me interested. Yeah, I remember back then I
took a little tiny tape recorder because he talks very fast,
and I didn't want to try to take the notes
and miss what he was saying. Because I was so
enthralled with his right discussions and presentations that I would
record him and then go home at night and oh,
that's transcribe it out. And I remember telling my parents
at the time, like, you got to listen to him,

(11:44):
Listen how good he is, how interesting he did. He
just changed my life.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
And he'll always call on you too, so you have
to be listening. So he'll ask you a question.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
That's sure, that's cool. And now I'm lucky enough to
have him still in my life with being a member
of our advisory board. He's phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
So how has switching gears from school to your professional life?
So how has networking with the chamber or any other
event that you've gone to, How has that helped you
and helped a special wish?

Speaker 3 (12:17):
All tremendously. I cannot say enough about the power of
networking and building those relationships. And if it weren't for
opportunities presented through the chamber, those would never come to me.
I've met so many wonderful folks through the Chambers of Commerce,
all the chambers, all of uscial wish belongs to. It's
just the power of networking. I cannot say enough about

(12:41):
how much you need that in your professional life. It
allows you to meet people, make those connections, build the relationships.
If you don't have the relationships, you can't pick up
the phone and just call folks. You can try, the
chances of getting a return call might be more slim.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
It's the relationship that you have to build.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Absolutely, and those take time, they do, and just being
in their you know, being with them once or twice
a month because of chamber, breakfast, chamber, lunch, chamber events
in the evening. It just keeps putting you together and
you build those relationships.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Right and we all all of our chambers in the
whole in the High Valley have some great events.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
Oh absolutely.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
And you know, I think businesses should really gravitate towards
that and learn from you that that is something that
they need to do to elevate their business, to create
those relationships.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Relationship building is I would say number one. And being
successful even when I was on Capitol Hill as a
legislative oh, I bet it was building relationships with the
different folks that helped you do your job better that
if you had a question, there were people you could
pick up the phone and call. You knew they would
take your call and give you an honest answer. It's

(13:59):
just I cannot stress the importance of that and all
the different tools that are available to us now to
allow that to happen. The chambers you guys put on
newsletter every week, so being able to, you know, put
information out there is vital right, especially to nonprofits and
small businesses. So the tools are there, you just have

(14:20):
to use them and be willing to be open to
that and maybe have to spend a few dollars to join.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
But it's the return on investment is yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
I mean it's minimal to what you.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Get in return exactly. So what would you say to
a young student if they're listening, what would you say
and how would you get them to be interested in
what you're doing or maybe forging their own path.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I'm glad you asked me that because one of my
many jobs after leaving government was higher ed and I
worked for at one time Belmont College and then I
also worked for the University of Akron here locally in
Belmont County. So I went to many college fairs, got
to talk to a lot of students, and what I
always would tell them, first and foremost, if you think

(15:09):
there's a career that you're interested in, anything can sound
good on paper, go spend time with someone that does
that job. You know, schools, high schools have shadowing programs.
Any professional would be more than happy to have a
young person come spend the day with them and see
what it's really like. It can sound wonderful when you're
reading about it, or look better than it truly is,

(15:31):
or maybe it doesn't seem so great, but when you
go and you're actually involved in it, it opens up
your world. So I always say, go spend time with
that and follow what you like. If you don't like science,
you're not going to be a veterinarian because you like puppies,
right right, Yeah, I mean also follow your strengths and
what means something to you. I mean, it took me

(15:52):
a while. I've loved every job I've had, but now
I feel like I just got so lucky that it's
not even a job.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I feel the same way about my job.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
It's not a job.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
When you get up and you get excited to go
to work, and you know it's it's it becomes something
that you kind of look forward to.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yes, there's never been a day I wake up and
I say I don't want to go to work. And
that means a lot. Sure it does. And that's that's
what you want for everyone, you know, to be able
to do what you love and not everyone I understand.
Is that fortunate? I mean sometimes it takes a while
to get there.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well how many it took you a while? Oh yeah,
to get where you are exactly. It doesn't happen overnight.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
It doesn't. And it's funny because everything happens the way
it's supposed to.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Right.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
One connected job led to relationships, networking, which put me
on another path and another, so it just all kind
of comes together the way it's supposed to sometimes, yep.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
And I feel for the younger generation, they get mad,
they get upset because they're not in the position that
they want to be in. But they have to understand
all of those jobs that you have part time, full time,
you know, it matters because you learned something all along
the way. There's something that you can learn from everything.

(17:14):
Everything that I have in my life, I've learned a lesson.
So that takes me, brings me to where I am today,
and that is you can't you can't discount that.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
No, not at all.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Process oriented thinking, and part of the process is understanding
that it is a process and then making connections and
going through the motions is kind of you know, you
can't wake up on day one and think that or
expect yourself to be where you want to be right
in several years. So understanding that it is a process,
I think is very important from the beginning.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
M absolutely yeah. And have goals, you know, I tell
the young folks, have goals where you want to be,
but be open to the different paths.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
That exactly be open. You're right, be open.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Well, you think you were a Comms major, and that's
kind of a general as we talked about a little earlier,
a general degree and kind of this, you know, the
same thing that I'm going into. How do you think
that helped you? Because then all of a sudden you
have a ton of options. The analogy I've always used is,
you know, with a specific degree, you open one door,
but you open it all the way. With a general
degree and a broad degree, you opened many doors, but
you know, maybe they're only.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Cracked exactly it is. It's just very broad and it
allowed me to do many different things. When I was
graduating from hone University, I thought I was going to
be a public relations professional and I wanted to work,
probably in Columbus at the time. It was having volunteered
my time on that ninety four congressional campaign that opened

(18:41):
doors for me to a professional. I never would have
considered it being a legislative aid on Capitol Hill, but
my background and what I learned at a high university
and it really just allowed me to go there and
you know, do well. There's because there's a lot of writing,
a lot of speaking, be able to have to stand
up and speak on the fly when you're at a

(19:03):
meeting and you don't expect it. It all really just
builds and allows you to broaden your horizons.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
So what brought you back to the High Valley when
you left?

Speaker 3 (19:14):
My parents? My family? Okay, yeah, I'm an only child
and my mom wasn't well, so I wanted to come
back here because I knew she wouldn't be able to
travel when we were starting our family. So it's been
eighteen years next month, so that you've been back, I've
been back. I was gone for ten okay, traveled around,
lived a lot of different places. Because of my husband's shop,

(19:37):
I got to see a lot that I never expected.
And you know, who knows what would have happened if
I would have stayed in DC if I never met him.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Right exactly? Yeah, Well good for you.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, so if you didn't have family back here. We
talk about this all the time. We talk about you know,
what's attractive about the valley that brings people back. Well,
we know a ton of folks like yourself come back
because of family reasons. If it wasn't for that, and
let's just take that out of the equation. What do
you think is attractive about the valley and if not,
what would you like to see?

Speaker 3 (20:05):
I think one thing, if you plan on having a family,
this is truly a great place to raise children. It
is you know, the the small town, the safety of it,
and the cost. You know what's nice is you know,
being able to know your neighbors and you know, yes,
we do know everybody in a small town, but that

(20:25):
can be a good thing. Yeah, and it's a nice area.
I do love the area. It's home. It's always going
to be home for me. But if I didn't have
family here, probably the reason I would come back would
be the cost of living the just the area. You know.
I love our hills, I love the water. We lived
in El Paso, Texas on one of our many John's

(20:48):
and yes, totally different, totally. I miss seeing green grass,
I miss seeing rivers and lakes, and the Rio Grande
is not what you think it is. It's and it's dry,
and especially where alpas No wars Mexico. Living on a
border town made me certainly want to come back here. Oh.

(21:09):
I kept saying to them, like I miss water, and
they said, well, you have our you know mountain. I said,
that's great, but I can't swim in your mountain. Yeah,
It's what I knew, It's what we love. So there's
there's a lot of there's so many good things happening
now too in the area right that I'm hoping, you know,
more young folks stay or come back. Yeah. I agree.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
We talk about community all the time and also bringing
youth into this and one of the philosophies I've always
had is there's no greater investment that a community can
make than in its own youth and your you're a
testament to that, and i'd like you to if you
could talk about why that is.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
If you agree, oh, absolutely, we have to make it
desirable and attractive for the youth to stay here, and
that does mean investing in them, whether it's just having
different activities for them to do, supporting them, having the
workforce support them, because you know, it's an aging population

(22:10):
and that cannot sustain the area. So we you know,
the more we work as a community and think of
different ways to keep you guys here and investing, whether
it's co op programs, right, if you're in college, all
the different trades in the unions, really forging partners with
the high school to get those students because that's an

(22:32):
area that has boomed skilled trades, that's that's such such
lucrative careers that I think the schools should be really
working more with our unions in different trades to make
that more attractive to our young kids. I agree, it'll.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Never be without a job if that's their vos exactly exactly.
I think sometimes our generation, we're about the same age.
Our generation dismisses the younger generation generation as if you
don't know what you're talking about, you haven't lived yet No,
they haven't lived. However, they are living and they you know,

(23:12):
they want to learn from us, and there's nothing wrong
with that. And I think we need to embrace that
generation and help them, don't you. Yes, I really think
that's important. Like I noticed, like some of the events
that are clubs that we're in that we see a
little bit more younger generation involvement, and to me, that

(23:36):
is a testament to them. But we also have to
allow that to happen because sometimes we get set in
our ways and say no, right, you're right, yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
And I think one of the worst things that anyone,
the worst mindset anyone can have, is this is the
way we've always done right exactly. I hate that I
do too, because that doesn't mean it's the best way.
That doesn't mean that should stay that way. And like
you said, Wendy, as much as experience as we can offer,
they can offer a lot too. We can learn from
the youth. I love it when I have a young

(24:10):
intern in the office. I don't get them quite nearly
and not sure because they can teach me a lot,
and trust me, I take them up on that, especially
when it comes to technology. I mean, I know enough
to get by, but not what they know exactly.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
Well, we're about out of time for this half hour block.
I guess I can gauge the room. I mean, if
you guys think we can go another half hour, if
time permits and it works within everybody's schedule, that's no
problem to me. But if we're out of time for everybody,
then then that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Well, I think we're gonna let Amrik get on her way.
And I thank you, you know, for coming in and
talking about a special wish and your life very interesting,
some of the stuff I didn't know.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Well, thank you for inviting me. And I hope I
elaborate enough on a special wish or it makes us different.
You did so. And if I could add Drake, just
if anyone knows of a child that they think will qualify,
please reach out to me any one of my board members.
Our Facebook page a Special Wish hyphen High Valley Chapter,

(25:13):
because you know, that's that's how we find out about
the children in the area that are ill.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
You guys do great stuff.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Thank you, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, thanks for coming on, and thanks for an incredible
morning and super insightful and we look forward to to
talking to you in the future. Ye all right, thanks
for listening. That's been it.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Thank you, thank you.