Don and Shellie Greiner have supported OMRF since they were in middle school – even if they didn’t know it at the time.
The pair attended Oklahoma City’s Putnam City Schools, where the districtwide annual Cancer Fund Drive has raised nearly $4 million for cancer research at OMRF since it started in 1975.
“That was a while ago,” Shellie laughs. “But I’m glad to know it’s come full circle.”
The Greiners, who founded Oklahoma’s Good Shepherd Hospice more than 25 years ago, were reintroduced to OMRF in 2018. “I was totally blown away,” says Shellie.
Few know the firsthand toll of illness better than the Greiners, who have aided thousands of Oklahomans with end-of-life care. That awareness leaves the pair aligned with the goals of OMRF researchers who study diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer and arthritis in hopes they can help people extend their “healthspan,” the period of our lives without illness or disability.
“It’s one thing for us to visit the sick and feed the hungry,” Shellie says. “It’s another to try to prevent it in the first place.”
And for the Greiners, there is a particular point of pride in keeping their family’s support for medical research local.
“It brings me so much joy to have a place in Oklahoma for our incredible scientists to land and do great work,” Shellie says. “We are all going to need advanced medicine as our lives go forward. What better place to do that work than right here in Oklahoma?”
Read more from The Givers
Building The Foundation
Major Giver
Taking Flight
Cason Consistency
Matter of Trust
Research Advocate
Giving with Gratitude
Team Players
Research Champion
The Next Generation
Partnering for Health
A Family Affair
The Insider
