The Dirt Biker Chronicles

Donnalee Velvick never met her mother or father. She was an unwanted child. Instead of having a family, she was raised at St. Ann’s Orphanage in Los Angeles.

It’s fitting that she grew up in the City of Angels, because Donnalee’s work is worthy of an angel. At eleven years old, Donnalee made a vow. She promised to devote her life to helping other orphans.

Brandon Whallon also made a vow. Brandon didn’t grow up an orphan like Donnalee, but he felt he needed to give something back for all that had been given to him.

Whallon is an avid motorcycle rider who races  the Southern Idaho Desert Racing Association (SIDRA) series. Last year he raised money so he could race the legendary Baja 1000. “I asked around for some sponsorship to help defray costs in participating in the 2007 Baja 1000,” he said. “My team printed up shirts and then we sold them for donations. I hit up all of my co-workers and friends.”

It was not to be, though. He made it to Mexico for the race, but the day of the race his plans fell apart.

“I ended up going down to Mexico and got very sick, literally an hour before I was to get on the race bike,” Whallon said. “Long story short, I ended up spending two-plus weeks down there, rode over 800-miles pre-running the course, then got super-sick and ended up not participating one iota.” He was so dehydrated he had to go to the hospital for an I.V., and his three teammates had to ride his share of the 1,000 miles.

Whallon felt bad that he had raised money, spent it to travel to Baja, and then couldn’t race. Nobody asked him to pay back the money, but he wanted to make it up somehow.

“This year, I wanted to do something different,” Whallon said. “Instead of asking people to support my silly habit, maybe I could use my silly habit for some good. My employer brought in a very good motivational speaker who told us that what we do for ourselves will get us by, but what we do for others will get us ahead.”

If there is truth to that statement, “what we do for others will get us ahead”, then Donnalee Velvick is far ahead of the average person.

In 1973 Donnalee Velvick began fulfilling her childhood promise to help other orphans. That year she bought an old farm house near Nampa, Idaho and founded the Hope House. Hope House became a home for orphaned kids with disabilities and challenges that made it all but impossible for them to be accepted in traditional foster or adoptive families. The children’s problems ranged from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to Reactive Detachment Disorder.

“I think the most important message,” Velvick said, “is these are kids with incredible courage. They have resiliency. They bounce back and they are willing to try again.”

Since 1973 Hope House has grown in both size and notoriety, and relocated twice to improve the home for the kids. The current location is an old Job Corps site outside of Marsing, Idaho, where they moved in 2004.

Hope House has beds for 25 girls and 19 boys. However, it’s not simply room and board Hope House provides the kids. It’s much more. At Hope House the kids are treated as part of a family, where all are taught to share in the day-to-day responsibilities. Everyone is involved in daily group activities and bible teachings. The kids learn to help both themselves and others by participating in service projects and missionary trips, like the one they took to help an orphanage in Mexico last year.

Hope House also provides all schooling for the kids from kindergarten through 12th grade. “Everyone graduates,” Velvick said. And it’s not because they are just passed through. Every kid gets the attention they need to learn and succeed academically. Academics are rounded with sports. Hope House has school basketball, volleyball and fl ag football teams that compete against other Christian schools in the Northwest.

To provide all of this for the kids, the staff of 22 has to be very dedicated, and they are. They are a living testament to their Christian faith. They’re paid a mere 27 cents an hour, plus room and board; this for a six day work week where they must be available 24 hours a day.

Another remarkable fact about Hope House is it has been funded all these years almost entirely through donations. Velvick said it is “government licensed but not funded.”

“We have five big sources of regular donations,” Velvick said. “The Nif and Sue Sullivan Fund, setup specifically for Hope House; the Lions Club; the Rotary Club; donations from some of the children’s families; and Social Security payments some of the children receive.” She also added they get some monthly donations from private citizens. “There are people that send us $10 or $20 every month, and that helps out.”

And helping Hope House is how Brandon Whallon decided to give something back.

“Last year, for Christmas, we had a company-wide fund raising drive where we donated money matched by our employer, Hawkins Companies,” Whallon said. “We picked a charity, which was Hope House. On Christmas Eve, right about noon, fifty-plus kids show up in our office, and start singing. They had two choirs, one with the very small children, the other with the older kids. And it was AMAZING watching these kids work together! I really did not know the background of these kids, but seeing them band together was pretty moving for me. These kids might have had a right to be pissed at the world, but instead of focusing on the part of the glass that was empty, these kids were making the most of what they did have in the glass, and it was special.”

Whallon’s fund raising idea started coming together. “I remembered participating in the Cystic Fibrosis ‘Bike-a- Thon’ back when I was a kid,” he said. “I went around and asked for pledges based upon a number of miles that I would ride on a specific day. I figured that scenario would translate well to desert racing by just asking for a pledge based on my point tally instead of miles rode. I sent out emails to all of my co-workers, and had a better response than I expected. I got pledges adding up to around $1.50 per point I earned for the 2008 season.”

Once again, though, Whallon’s best laid plan hit an obstacle. A dislocated shoulder injury he hoped had recovered rared up. One race into the SIDRA season he realized he needed surgery, and that meant he couldn’t race the rest of the season. Whallon, however, was not going to let this plan unravel on him like Baja had.  He quickly came up with an idea to get another racer to carry the torch, and have their points counted toward the pledges. He thought of the Schlapia family and their 15 year old son Jared who is close in age to many of the Hope House kids. Jared’s parents, Scott and Micki, supported the idea. Jared agreed.

Whallon made sure his pledgers were okay with the change of riders and the stage was set.

Whallon made a good choice. Young Jared is a ringer. Currently he is in first place in the Men’s Lightweight B class with 718 points seven races into the season. With two races remaining on the schedule he could finish with a possible total of 1128 points. That would come close to $1700 earned for Hope House through pledges. “That’s not nearly enough, “ Whallon said, and he’s still working on getting pledges.

Donnalee Velvick, however, is grateful for every donation. She’s had to make Hope House run for 35 years on donations, and she’s done it at a fraction of the cost-per-child as similar public funded facilities. “Every little bit helps,” she said.

So when Jared Schlapia sits on the starting line at SIDRA’s next race, Brandon Whallon and the Schlapia family won’t be alone in cheering for him to wrap up first in his class. He’ll have the hopes of the Hope House kids with him.

If you would like to make a tax deductable donation to Hope House, please send it to:

Hope House:

7696 Old Bruneau Hwy
Marsing, ID 83639
208-896-4673

*reprinted from HotPipes Magazine, August 2008

Filed under: The Dirt Biker Chronicles on February 3rd, 2009