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PrintHope Rains provides a new hope
After the death of his wife, Troy Holmes founded a nonprofit organization in her name to provide financial assistance for women diagnosed with cancer.
Maybe you just learned that your mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, niece or high school best friend has cancer. You would like to help financially in whatever way you can, but how?
Hope Rains can help. Organized three years ago, the Tulsa-based nonprofit financially aids women diagnosed with any type of cancer.
After his wife, Jeannette, died in August 2007 following a three-year bout with colon cancer, Tulsan Troy Holmes founded Hope Rains, Jeannette Holmes Memorial Foundation with several women in the couple’s neighborhood. Since then, with the help of various public fund-raisers, the charity has raised thousands of dollars to help women, specifically young mothers, battling the disease defray the costs of their treatment.
The next fund-raiser is the Hope Rains third annual Cross Country Race and Fun Run on May 1 at the Holland Hall Preparatory School cross country course.
Jeannette Holmes was the mother of two children, Hayley and Hunter, and was 36 at the time of her death.
Starting a foundation in her name was never one of his wife’s personal dreams, Troy Holmes says.
“She would have loved to do anything for someone else, but I knew if she hadn’t passed, there would be no foundation,” he says. “The idea was something I had in my mind for a number of months before she passed.”
It took only about two weeks after Jeannette’s death to get Hope Rains started, Holmes says.
“We had our first meeting with a few key women from my neighborhood,” he says. “We got a contact name, Susie Graves, with Community Foundations of Oklahoma, and met with her. Then we were off and running.”
The decision to call the charity Hope Rains came from one of Jeannette’s favorite pastimes during her illness: standing in the rain or her shower with her arms outstretched, as in prayer.
Hope Rains receives no state or federal funding, relying solely on the support of individuals and corporate donors. Hope Rains’ first fund-raiser was a golf tournament, which raised more than $40,000 on Nov. 12, 2007.
The organization’s first two cross country runs were held in 2008 and 2009.
“We had about 400 at the first run and then got rained out the second year but still got over 250 runners,” Holmes says. “We also do expos and golf tournaments and art shows. We look at everything as a possibility (to raise money).”
Currently, Hope Rains is financially assisting six women. It also offers scholarships to women pursuing physical therapy careers.
Although 2008 grant recipient Colleen Van Zee lost her fight with cancer in 2009, currently Hope Rains does not offer family support for bereaved families, and also does not allow single primary-parent men with cancer to receive its grants.
Hope Rains is governed by a board of directors, and “once a candidate is chosen by the board, I call (the candidate) to set up a meeting to discuss their insurance and treatment plan so we can start helping as soon as possible,” Holmes says. “We try to keep (our grant costs) to $10,000 for a year to each candidate, but we can do more with a vote by the board.”
According to Holmes, typical initial out-of-pocket costs range from $2,000-$4,000 on most insurance policies, with another $3,000 for incidentals over a year’s time.
May 1 — Third annual Hope Rains Cross Country Race and Fun Run 8:30 a.m., 5-kilometer race; 10 a.m., fun run. Holland Hall School cross country course, 5666 E. 81st St. $20, preregistration; $25, race day; free, children under 12. Includes lunch and awards. Proceeds benefit The Jeannette Holmes Memorial Foundation. Visit www.hoperains.org.
