There are a lot of interests I have outside of my school board life. One of those interests is Parent Resource Network. My wife and I started a not for profit company a few years ago. There is a long story as to how things got started. The abridged version goes like this:
My daughter, Taylor, was born 16 weeks premature due to my wife, Kelly, being sick. Taylor was born via an emergency c-section in order to save Kelly's life. There was little chance (less than 10% according to the doctors) that Taylor would even live. Even if she did manage to survive, we were told that she would have significant physical and mental handicaps. To complicate matters, the c-section happened when Kelly was visiting her parents in Chicago and I was living in our apartment in Washington, DC.
Through our time in three different neo-natal intensive care units (first in Chicago, then at Georgetown, then in Northern California) spread over a 9-month period, Kelly and I got to appreciate how difficult it was for families to have their lives changed so much due to the premature birth of their babies. For us there was so much to learn about how to take care of a medically fragile infant. There were oxygen tanks, apnea monitors, trachs to change, oxygen sensors to monitor, and an assortment of beeps and buzzes with which we had to familiarize ourselves. Add to that the birth of our second child just a few months after Taylor came home from the hospital, and well, it was quite an experience. Through the many doctor checkups, trainings, and lingering illnesses, we managed through the first two years of Taylor's life the best we could. Fast forward to today and we have a 7 year old daughter who, while she does have some speech and physical delays, is as happy and loving as any child you will ever meet. If you like to be hugged, then you need to meet Taylor. She will brighten your day.
Kelly comes from a background of social work. She approached me in February 2007 (about the same time I decided to run for school board!) and asked me if she could leave her full time job to start her own non-profit that would help those families that were just like us. She wanted to make sure that families in NICUs had the means to visit their little ones in the hospital and that, while there, they were as comfortable as possible. After giving it only a moment of thought, I of course told her to go ahead and get this thing started. Kelly has since created a vast network of parent volunteers that provide a number of services to parents of children that have been born prematurely or with a birth defect.
Parent Resource Network provides:
-A toll free hotline for parents with any questions or concerns about their premature infant
-Hospital Outreach by parents that have been directly affected by the PRN mission
-Parent Mentoring to educate and help new parents through the maze of information coming their way
-Support Groups to help those that have suffered the loss of child
-Helping Hands to distribute the necessities of daily life to those that are staying in the hospital (gas cards, toiletries, etc).
In order to continue the PRN mission of helping these families, the organization holds a Gala once a year. This year's gala is on Saturday January 17th and will take place at the Omni William Penn hotel in the Grand Ballroom. Tickets to the event are $50. There will be a table casino with top prizes, music by a Mt Lebanon DJ, silent and live auction items, and we will also honor the CEO of Children's Hospital, Roger Oxendale.
We have room for just over 400 people and would love to see the event sell out. We have lowered the ticket prices from $100 to $50 per person this year in response to the economic downturn (hence the term "Bailout" Gala).
If you would like to go to the event, please either email Kelly or myself. You can find her website at www.parentresourcenetwork.org. Or you can purchase your tickets with your credit card securely from PayPal right here. You do not need to be a PayPal member to pay with your credit card.
If you cannot attend the event but would like to donate to Parent Resource Network, please visit the PRN website and look for the 'Donation' button.
And by the way, when I say "WE" started this, it really is all Kelly. It is her passion to make this organization successful and to help families throughout Allegheny County. My role is simply providing her the support she needs to be able to attend the numerous meetings, events, and conferences that help make PRN a success.
Best wishes and Happy New Year.
James
