Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Greer.
Hi Joshua, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My name is Josh Greer. I am married to Rachel Greer and we have three kids together: Marley (6), Willa (4), and Dawson (2). I am a hospital administrator at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and my wife is an Occupational Therapist at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital.
I’m originally from the Nashville area but my wife is from the Memphis area (Germantown). We met as undergrads in Knoxville. After undergrad, I spent a few years in Nashville working in the financial industry before moving to Memphis to be closer to Rachel while I pursued my MHA and she was in OT school at UTHSC. I fell in love with everything about Memphis and this is now where we call home!
When our oldest daughter Marley was born with Down Syndrome, my wife and I knew we wanted to start some type of charity to benefit local DS awareness, but didn’t know where to start. We just knew we wanted to tell the world how enriching and amazing individuals with Down Syndrome are by any and every means necessary.
In an almost serendipitous way, Rachel and I both had a decent amount of experience working with individuals with disabilities long before Marley was born. Rachel had found a passion for working with individuals with disabilities in college serving as a camp counselor for Camp Koinonia, a camp in East Tennessee dedicated to serving individuals with disabilities. And the fraternity I was a part of, Pi Kapp Phi, had national philanthropy that served individuals with disabilities.
In the summer of 2007, I was even fortunate enough to cycle across the country for 64 days raising funds and awareness for individuals with disabilities. Each day, you would cycle for 8-12 hours, then each night you spent time with a local disability chapter in whatever city you were in, getting to know individuals with disabilities in every town across America.
It was an amazing, life-changing experience that not only prepared me well for when Marley was born, but the idea of a distance challenge where you then meet with folks at various stops is ultimately what led me to create “Walkin’ In Memphis!”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life is full of challenges. For example, I lost my dad in a car wreck on Father’s Day when I was 21 years old. Events like that have the ability to shape your life. The most important lesson I learned from that is what you choose to do in those situations. You can let them break you or you can let them make you better.
Comes down to choice. You can choose a path of sadness and self-loathing and I think most people would give you a pass given the situation. Or you can choose a path of gratefulness and humility and appreciation of what you had and still have. The memories you were fortunate enough to make. I was fortunate enough to choose the latter, which also allows you to kind of go through life with bumpers up. Some might call it mental cheating, but in my mind, it’s just eliminating waste. It’s the road less traveled.
It allows you to drown out all the noise in the world and just try and focus on what matters most. Family, fellowship with friends, finding a passion for your career (no matter what that is), and finding ways to give back to your community. Just living by the principle of “Our time on this planet is short, love the people you love, and leave this place better than you found it.”
Living by that philosophy just simplifies things and makes you a much happier person in the long run if you let it, because you learn to teach yourself to focus on the now/present and what truly matters. The rest becomes noise. I took a really awful situation to learn that lesson but I found a way to turn the event into a learning moment.
Learning that in your early 20s set you up for so many other wonderful things in your life as you get older.
Getting married to the love of your life, having kids, etc. just becomes that much sweeter. I truly think that going through that journey of self-discovery in my 20s is what shaped and prepared me when Marley was born, life is full of curveballs and she was the greatest curveball when never knew we needed it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
So when Marley Grace Greer was born on July 8th, 2015, we knew we wanted to start our own charity benefitting local Down Syndrome organizations, programs, and initiatives. We realized Memphis didn’t really have a great event each year on World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), which is on March 21st every year.
So I tweaked the concept from my cross-country bike ride and instead of cycling, I said what if I walk across Memphis all day long each year on WDSD? So each year on March 21st (World Down Syndrome Day), I walk for 14+ hours across the Memphis area, trekking 21+ miles & formally stopping at 21 well-known Memphis attractions to take pictures with supporters, self-advocates, and sponsors, news outlets, local politicians/celebrities & many others.
At each stop, I raise the global symbol for Down syndrome, a blue & yellow butterfly, to take a picture in support of Down Syndrome awareness & inclusion! We get unprecedented access across the city from some of the world’s most well-known businesses and organizations. It has grown way more than I ever anticipated it would and in just 5 short years we’ve been able to raise over $70,00o for the local Down Syndrome Association.
Just like anyone else, Marley can accomplish anything she sets her mind to, but there are times when extra resources may be needed to help guide her down that path. An invaluable resource Marley benefits from is the Down Syndrome Association of Memphis and The Mid-South (DSAM). They provide support, services, and a place where individual diversity and equality are celebrated!
It is a lasting comfort for Rachel and me to know that loving and meaningful resources will be available for Marley now and well into her future as her needs change.
So it was in Marley’s honor, along with every individual with Down Syndrome, that Rachel and I decided to start this annual fundraiser each year to raise funds for the DSAM and to celebrate the wonders and enriching values of individuals with Down Syndrome bless us with every day on this earth!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Just get out there and try. Who cares if you fail or succeed. If you are passionate about something, no matter the outcome you’re going to learn, grow and improve from it.
There is no “failure” if you lean into the things you care most about in this world. We are all taught that when we are kids, but at some point, as we age the conformities of society tell us to grow up and put away childish things.
My advice would be to ignore self-reducing proverbs and always keep that wonderment about the world. If you do, your passions never leave and they stay at the forefront to guide you through life.
Contact Info:
- Email: walkininmemphisfords@gmail.com
- Website: https://dsamemphis.ezeventsolutions.com/Walkin
- Instagram: @walkininmem
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WalkinInMemphis
- Twitter: @WalkinInMem
Image Credits
Caroline Johnson
