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Community Champion
By Bruce Dries
Photo by Barry Reeger
 Springtime can’t come soon enough for
Bill Orr ’91. A sales compensation programmer for Thermo Fisher
Scientific, Orr is organizer of his company’s cycling team.
The
cyclists participate in all Pittsburgh charity cycling events to
raise funds for charities, including the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation (CFF). The rides are not races but rather leisure cycling
events in which riders choose a predetermined course and ride at
their own pace. Orr came up with the idea for an additional event
for CFF—the 65 Roses Ride, now entering its fifth year.
A runner and cyclist who competes in
duathlons (run-bike-run), Orr, thirty-eight, is a nationally ranked
age-group athlete. He is vice president of the Montour Trail Council
and chair of the Montour Trail sponsorship committee, bringing in
sponsors for events such as Tour the Montour, the Ikea Montour Trail
Half Marathon 5K Run and 5K Walk, the latter of which averages
about a thousand participants.
Orr was recognized as a 2005
Community Champion and was nominated for a Jefferson Award,
established by the American Institute for Public Service to
recognize those who perform remarkable deeds in community service
without expectation of reward or recognition.
“Cycling is very rewarding to me,”
said Orr. “Last year I worked with someone at the CF Foundation who
actually had cystic fibrosis. It was a lot of motivation for what I
was doing, because I could see how much she appreciated the time I
put in to benefit her and others who had the disease.”
A native of Blairsville, Pa., Orr
graduated from IUP with a degree in accounting. He moved to
Pittsburgh in 1993 and started working for Mellon Bank, then worked
at the Civic Arena for a couple of years, moved to AT&T Wireless,
and finally to Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2000 doing programming
work for the sales compensation system.
A runner since his high school days,
Orr started learning about the rails to trails in the area when he
moved to Pittsburgh. “I bought a bike, and when I joined Fisher I
heard about the corporate cycling team. It sounded like a lot of
fun, so I went ahead and joined,” said Orr.
The company pays for the employees to
participate in the event, covering the registration fee and the
fundraising minimum, if any. After his first year, Orr was asked to
step in as team organizer. He started meeting the other charity
cycling directors in the area and began bouncing ideas back and
forth with the director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, as Fisher
was the title sponsor of their Pedal
’N Party event. The outcome was a new event, the
65 Roses Ride, of which Fisher also is
title sponsor. (“65 Roses” is what some children with cystic
fibrosis call their disease because the words are much easier for
them to pronounce.)
Most of the cycling events take place
on the road, with the exception of the Montour Trail ride, which is
all on the trail. “Generally, you have to be comfortable with
dealing with traffic,” said Orr. “The courses have designated
lengths. You choose a course and however many miles you want to do
and pretty much ride at your own leisure.”
Pittsburgh-area charity cycling events
start up sometime each May. The
65 Roses Ride takes place on the first Sunday in June, the
Pedal ’N Party ride is the first Sunday in August, and the
Ikea Montour Trail Half Marathon is in early September.
The Montour Trail is about forty miles
long and will be close to forty-seven miles when complete. “The
trail is such an asset to this area, and it’s a big benefit to a lot
of people to have something like this they can go to, whether to
walk or bike or just get away,” said Orr. “It’s a real quality of
life for this area. I enjoy giving to that because I’m a user too.
It’s nice to kind of give back.”
Bill Orr can be contacted at
william.orr@thermofisher.com. |
