Respite Retreats Celebrates Katie Renehan, Honored with the T. Rowe Price Community Quarterback Award

Last night was a moment of extraordinary pride for the entire Respite Retreats community.

Katie Renehan, Founder and Program Director of Respite Retreats Abby’s Carts of Courage and Abby’s remarkable mom, was honored with the prestigious T. Rowe Price Community Quarterback Award, recognizing her extraordinary compassion, leadership, and commitment to children battling cancer.

For years, Katie has poured her heart into ensuring that pediatric cancer patients receive a wagon filled with thoughtfully selected comfort items and essentials including blankets, books, toys, soothing tools, and practical items that help families navigate long treatment days, challenging transitions, and everyday life while in active treatment. These wagons are more than gifts. They are symbols of care, courage, and community at a time when families need support the most.

But the impact of the wagons reaches far beyond hospital hallways.

These wagons help families maneuver through the entire cancer journey, not only during medical appointments, but also during social outings, school events, family activities, and moments where mobility, comfort, and dignity matter most.
For many children, mobility devices or strollers are no longer options because they exceed the common 55 pound weight limit. Abby’s Carts of Courage fills that critical gap by offering older pediatric patients a supportive way to move through their days without strain or discomfort.

What makes this program especially meaningful is the heart behind the deliveries.

Katie and Abby personally deliver the wagons to local pediatric cancer patients, offering not just comfort items but genuine connection. A moment of joy, understanding, and hope from a family who has walked this path.

Abby, the brave inspiration for the program, continues to be an active participant in every way, choosing items, helping assemble wagons, and sharing her light with children navigating the same journey she once faced. Together, Katie and Abby remind families that they are not alone.

What began as one mother’s mission to honor her courageous daughter has grown into a movement of compassion, comfort, and hope touching lives throughout our community.

The entire Respite Retreats family is deeply proud of Katie, grateful for her leadership, and inspired every day by the love she and Abby pour into the world. Their work makes childhood a little lighter for patients in treatment and brings strength, joy, and understanding to families along the way.

Please join us in celebrating Katie on this incredibly well deserved honor. The world is brighter because of her, and so are the lives of every child who receives a Respite Retreats Abby’s Cart of Courage.

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