Passing the Baton: How Your Story Can Be a Lifeline with Founder Kelly Olson

What if the very thing you’ve walked through—the pain, the loss, the questions—is the lifeline to someone else’s hope?

In this deeply meaningful conversation, Heather sits down with Kelly Olson, founder and executive director of The Baton Pass, a community helping women move from quiet desperation to connection, healing, and hope.

Kelly shares her personal story of trauma, healing, and the moment that changed everything: hearing someone else’s testimony and realizing her story didn’t have to end in brokenness. That experience became the seed of The Baton Pass—a growing movement centered on the power of sharing stories and passing hope from one woman to another.

Together, Heather and Kelly explore:

• What “quiet desperation” really looks like (and why so many women live there)
• The difference between surviving and becoming an overcomer
• How storytelling creates healing—not just for the listener, but the teller
• Why in-person connection matters in a disconnected world
• The beautiful impact of Glimmers of Hope, a handwritten card initiative reaching women in hard seasons

This episode is an invitation: to bring your story into the light, to receive hope, and—when you’re ready—to pass it on.

Kelly Olson is the founder and executive director of The Baton Pass, a growing community dedicated to helping women connect, share their stories, and experience healing and hope. Based in the Chicagoland area, Kelly leads events, initiatives, and programs that create safe spaces for women to move from isolation to empowerment.

Resources Mentioned:

The Baton Pass website

Glimmers of Hope Initiative

Engaging your Story Course

Warrior Chicks book

Catch more of the story @thanks.for.doing.that.podcast! 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Heather Winchell: Hey, there you are listening to Thanks for doing that, a podcast celebrating people and ideas that make this world a better. Place. I am Heather Winchell, your host and chief enthusiast, and I'm on a mission to bring you conversations that encourage, inspire and delight. So stay tuned for another episode where we explore the things we do, the reasons we do them, and why it matters.

[00:00:45] Today I am joined by Kelly Olson. Kelly is the founder and executive director of the Baton Pass, a community of women that exists to foster connection and empower women to persevere and overcome, and I first heard of the Baton Pass through my own affiliation with the every little seed creative community.

[00:01:04] The two women-led orgs partnered on a project called Glimmers of Hope to create a beautiful and powerful set of greeting cards to use and encouraging women throughout the world. And I love the mission and vision of the Baton Pass, and I'm so honored to have Kelly here with me today. So thank you so much for joining me for this conversation.

[00:01:25] Kelly Olson: Thank you for the opportunity, Heather. I'm so grateful to be with you. 

[00:01:28] Heather Winchell: Yeah, and I would, I would love to just kick off this conversation with an overview of what life looks like for you right now. 

[00:01:35] Kelly Olson: Yeah, so we are natives to the Chicagoland area and so with it being spring, we are so excited right now for warmer days, longer days, bonfires just getting to go for walks.

[00:01:51] But in addition to just where we live, I am married to my best friend of 20 years. It's been a wild ride for sure, but I'm grateful that God has led us through every season. And I had a friend recently tell me that we are in the golden years of parenting the window of time where they're not in diapers anymore, but they're not driving and independent.

[00:02:14] So you kind of get them. And we are still some of their favorite people. We have two little girls, nine and 11. And although they are leaning more towards hanging out with their friends, they really like being with us. And so we're soaking that up. And then in regards to career right now, I'm so grateful that I get to live out my heart's passion every day through leading the Baton Pass right now.

[00:02:38] That looks like leading our team, preparing and hosting events, and ultimately making connections to help women know that they're not alone and that hope still exists. And then in addition to getting to lead the Baton Pass, my husband and I own an infrared Sauna Fitness studio. It's a franchise called Hot Works.

[00:02:57] We are coming up on five years of our first location, and we are in the process of. Establishing and building out our second location right in our hometown, which we're really excited about. And for fun, I'm an aqua aerobics instructor for senior citizens and it's very part-time, but it is a replenishing part of my world right now.

[00:03:22] So yeah, that's a little bit about me. 

[00:03:25] Heather Winchell: Oh, I love that. Flyover. So many, so many fun things. Wow. So I can. Relate to being in the, what you call the golden years of parenting. Our kiddos, we, our youngest DYS four, our oldest will be 13 this summer, which feels so wild. But it's a really fun season. And like you said, you know, they're not in diapers, you're kind of able to go a bit more, no naps to work around, things like that, but it is a really sweet time of life.

[00:03:52] Yeah. And I've never tried an infrared sauna, but that sounds lovely. 

[00:03:57] Kelly Olson: It is lovely. I tell my friends that aren't necessarily sauna people, that it's different than the typical sauna because you actually like, feel like you're on a warm beach and it like warms you up from the inside versus like that steamy.

[00:04:15] Wet sauna. It's a very like dry experience, but it's just like in the middle of winter in Chicago. It's wonderful to feel like you are someplace warm and tropical. And even in the middle of summer, it's still a nice place to go and get a good sweat on. So 

[00:04:32] Heather Winchell: yeah, and I love that you've got your hands in so many things.

[00:04:34] And how long have you been doing the, did you say aqua aerobics? 

[00:04:39] Kelly Olson: Aqua aerobics. This is, I'm going on my third summer of teaching. 

[00:04:43] Heather Winchell: So fun. Yeah. Gosh, I just feel like there's so many directions and I'm a very curious person, so I could ask you so many questions about all of those things. But I know that we are speaking today about the Baton Pass and you, you mentioned that you get to live out your hearts dream.

[00:04:55] I think I'd love to hear more of the backstory of the Baton Pass and its mission. 

[00:05:02] Kelly Olson: Thanks. I appreciate the opportunity to share. So the backstory is in high school I walked through some trauma and didn't realize, like I just kind of wrote it off as. That was just a crazy night, and I am really grateful that by the grace of God, he revealed to me in my freshman year of college that that was actually some significant trauma that I had walked through, and that the reason I was experiencing blackouts and flashbacks was because of that trauma.

[00:05:37] Unfortunately, in that first year of college. I didn't really talk about it, so I was in this place of quiet desperation where everybody saw like really excited, pumped up to be in college, involved in so many different things, Kelly, but under the surface, I was really struggling and my counselor that I was meeting with every Wednesday knew the struggles that I was navigating.

[00:06:02] And although I do believe she had my best interest in mind, she just kept telling me different coping strategies. Mm-hmm. And after a few months of this, I just felt more discouraged that my life was going to look like coping versus like functioning fully and being healed. And I felt stuck, discouraged, and a little hopeless.

[00:06:28] And I didn't really see a way out, but then I heard a woman's story. Her name is Lindsay, and what stopped me in her tracks is I heard her story. It sounded a lot like mine, similar wounds, similar brokenness, similar struggles, but her ending was different. She talked about healing, about redemption, about God, restoring what she thought was lost.

[00:06:52] And I remember sitting there thinking, wait, if that's possible for her, maybe healing's possible for me too. And that moment didn't fix everything. It was more of a like breakthrough moment. But the transformation began at that point, and she was so gracious. She even sat down with me at a local diner and shared more of her story afterwards.

[00:07:15] But it, that encounter changed something deep within me, and for the first time in a long time, I had hope, hope that my story wasn't over, and hope that maybe healing could be possible for me too. As I started processing that, I realized that there are so many women walking around believing that same lie, that I believe that this is just how my story ends and that this is, yeah, something that I'm going to have to carry with me for the rest of my life.

[00:07:44] And when everything shifted for me, it wasn't a program or strategy, it was really hearing Lindsay's story and I realized the power of story and testimony and that the word says we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, and I got to experience that firsthand. 

[00:08:06] Heather Winchell: I love that. And did you, I'm curious whether you did any track and field in school and whether the baton was something that you had experienced, like having a baton passed to you in running, or if that's just kind of a concept that came to you not having had that experience.

[00:08:23] Kelly Olson: Yeah, that's a great point. I didn't necessarily make the connection between the storytelling and the baton pass, so I did run track in junior high. I was in the four by one and four by two, so I understood the importance of passing a baton and receiving it well, but it was actually, I was about 25 years old.

[00:08:43] I was reading a book called Warrior Chicks by Holly Wagner, and one of the chapters within the book is all about the Baton Pass and the Baton exchange and how it, Holly Wagner is a breast cancer survivor, and she talks about how other women's stories. We're what gave her hope, and now that she is a breast cancer survivor and overcomer, she can pass the baton of hope to others.

[00:09:10] And the significance of, regardless of what you've walked through, whatever your story looks like, when you share your story, you can pass hope to women. And you can also be in a season where you're also receiving a baton even at the same time, because we all are navigating different things in different seasons.

[00:09:28] So. 

[00:09:30] Heather Winchell: I love that. I love the idea that we're all positioned to not only be receiving, but there's likely some area that we can be passing along as well. You know, Kelly, you spoke to how in your own experience you felt such a dissonance between how people experienced you and then the like inner life you were experiencing, right?

[00:09:51] Like it seemed like you were doing well and outgoing and involved in maybe like high capacity and coping. Or you know, maybe they didn't realize you were coping, but you looked fine. But then on the inside and with your physical body, there were all these things happening that were just so dissonant with how maybe people.

[00:10:10] Received you. And I think just aside from the pain, the actual pain that these experiences bring, that dissonance is so hard to live in. And then on top of that to live with, like you said, just this expectation that all you can ever do is cope and not heal. I mean, that is such a heavy burden. This is why I love what you're doing, because I think there are so many.

[00:10:35] So many women and men, but you know, Baton Pass works particularly with women, so many women out there that I think are longing to be seen in these areas and that do need to be reminded that there is hope and that there's, there's more than just dealing with whatever it was that happened in the way that's impacted their mind, or their body.

[00:10:55] Or their heart. So yeah, I just, I really love that. What started as a place of pain for you? Grew into. And offering of hope for others. And I guess I'm curious, you know, you, you experienced that in your own life. You read this book. How did that evolve? Did you have other women around you that caught the vision or was it kind of you on your own for a while or what did that look like?

[00:11:20] Kelly Olson: Yeah, thanks. I appreciate. Just the opportunity to, to rewind and, and to say it was definitely a seed that got it planted in my heart. We bought the URL. My husband and I bought the URL the baton pass.com when we had a infant, and we just decided we're just going to put this on the side. I, I explained to him the vision and the dream that the Lord had given me about it, but we said, you know.

[00:11:51] Lexi is just a baby right now. We'll wait until she starts school in a handful of years and about 18 months later, we were walking through miscarriage and as we navigated this miscarriage, God put other women to pass hope to me through their stories on my path, and I'm so grateful for my friend Katie Mahalick that.

[00:12:16] She, her story was very similar to mine, and God placed her right next to me at church one Sunday morning, and I had no idea her story, but she asked where I was that week. We missed each other and a workout class that we had done together. And I just explained like that we had lost the baby and I had to have a DNC and she was like, Kelly, I'm so sorry.

[00:12:38] I had no idea. Then she went into telling her story. But it's not like we walk around with our stories like across our forehead or across our chest. This is somebody that I had been doing life with. I was just at her son's first birthday, and I had no idea that between her older son and this son that I was at his birthday, that she had a miscarriage in between.

[00:13:00] And that's where it like stirred in me that like, oh, there's so many women. That have stories to share, but it's just not in the day-to-day that we have the space to share them. And so I was pretty convicted and we started moving things forward and I had the idea of making it like an online connection kind of thing.

[00:13:22] Uh, but I ran it past a good friend and a mentor of mine, Mindy, and she said, Kelly, like would Lindsay's story have been as impactful? If you were connected online, and I said, I, I don't think so. Like, I think that there's power in, in hearing it for yourself. And so we shifted and I started praying like, Lord, you gotta bring the pieces together.

[00:13:48] I have, you know, toddler at this point, and then I was pregnant with our second and. God did. He brought a sweet friend Amy, into my life that her story was so powerful and the loss that she had navigated, but the ways that the Lord had met her and her story was like, Amy, would you be willing to share at our first event and then.

[00:14:11] Just the other pieces came together. Some of my dearest friends were like, yeah, we'll help you put on this event. We had a venue that was gifted to us. I literally walked into this venue because it was so beautiful and aligned with the vision that God had given me, having no idea what the venue was. And I explained like, I think I'm supposed to have an event here.

[00:14:32] I don't even know what you guys do here, but, um, this is very like in line with what the vision that is on my heart. They were like, that's actually what we do. We host events to help nonprofits like get off the ground. And then, so that was just like a big, I always say that God like works in breadcrumbs.

[00:14:53] This was like a big crouton, like I was like, okay, Lord, we're going in the right direction. And so yeah, we hosted an event there for about 45 women. It was really first class. A friend of mine Ashley, put together like all the food and decor and my husband ran tech and AV for it. And from that there was just this hunger for women to have more opportunities like that.

[00:15:20] And so we just continued to host an events and within less than six months, we had 130 women. To our events here in Chicago. So yeah, it was one of those where we think we're gonna do it on our timing, and God was like, no, it's gonna be sooner than you think, but I'm gonna provide, 

[00:15:42] Heather Winchell: yeah. Yeah, man. And I can believe it because I just really think there are so many people longing for genuine connection and to, to be genuinely seen in these areas that, like you said, we, we don't just walk around talking about.

[00:15:57] And really there's not a lot of opportunity to raise your hand and speak to, unless you do find yourself landed in a kind of like a specialized setting, like a, you know, maybe a major event happens and you go to. A group that helps you work through loss or a group that helps you work through betrayal, things like that.

[00:16:16] But, but yeah, it's just, I'm, I'm thankful that he started launching that when he did. And how many years has it been? 

[00:16:26] Kelly Olson: It'll be nine years in November, so. 

[00:16:28] Heather Winchell: Wow. 

[00:16:30] Kelly Olson: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:16:31] Heather Winchell: That is really, really incredible. And I can just only imagine all of the stories you hold in your heart and mind from those nine years, like seeing women.

[00:16:41] Blossom in the care and connection and attunement of people that understand. I just, that must be really beautiful and also very hard to hold. 

[00:16:52] Kelly Olson: It is. It's been so sweet just to have a front row seat of getting to see God working through these stories and we really are very open-handed. We always say like we do the light lifting.

[00:17:07] We set up the spaces, but we don't ever do like assigned seats. We do have tables and table leaders, but the way that the Lord just puts the right people at the right tables and the stories that need to be shared and the women that are there we're always just blown away by the heart connections and it doesn't.

[00:17:28] This was something that I learned along the way is that it doesn't necessarily have to be the same story or the same. Pain points that women are walking through. Even at our first event, we, my good friend Lynn brought her friend and her friend had just got diagnosed with breast cancer. She hadn't told a lot of people, but in hearing one of the other women speak about infertility and adopting and then miraculously having a son, she was like, if that woman could walk through all that, she's walked through.

[00:18:03] I know that I can get through this cancer battle, and my friend, Lynn's friend Cindy, is thriving today. She is doing, you know, and it's just like, we just need the encouragement that if God could bring her through X, that he can bring me through Y. Mm-hmm. 

[00:18:21] Heather Winchell: Absolutely. That perspective is so helpful. Yeah.

[00:18:24] Yeah. Like you said, presence in person gatherings is really important to you and your team, but like I mentioned in the intro, I actually came to hear about the Baton Pass through the Glimmers of Hope initiative, and I would love to have you share more about that program. 

[00:18:42] Kelly Olson: Yeah, so last year our team was on a Zoom call.

[00:18:46] I should explain to you, our team has expanded, so. One of our directors, Angela moved from Chicago to Phoenix in 2020, and because her heart was already so tied to this vision and this mission, even though she know knew no one in the Phoenix Valley, she started a chapter of the Baton Pass in 2021, and it is continuing to thrive out there.

[00:19:13] She has created such a beautiful community of women that. Continue to reach women in places of quiet desperation. So that has expanded in that direction. And then a friend of mine from college reached out to me and said, I'd love to. Start a chapter of the Baton Pass in central Illinois. And so two years ago we launched that chapter.

[00:19:37] So we are a remote team that jumps on and connects via Zoom now, and we came to the realization that. There are women in places of quiet desperation all over the country that may not be able to attend our local events. Right now, just being in those three regions and CI and cities, we're not able to reach everyone.

[00:20:00] But our heart has always been to connect those who have walked through a difficult situation and come out on the other side with those that are in the midst of it. And as we brainstormed, the Lord brought me back to like a memory. From that season of grief that my husband and I walked through after our miscarriage, and my sister-in-law's best friend actually wrote me just a letter on like loose leaf paper.

[00:20:24] I barely knew her, but she knew what I was going through because she too walked through miscarriage and her letter met me in my pain in a way that met me, made me feel less alone and hopeful that I would be able to make it through this grief as well. And I still have that letter today. And so I reached out to another friend, my sweet friend Sarah, that has navigated horrific loss and grief.

[00:20:50] Her husband was killed in a car accident, leaving her a young widow and mom of four. And so I ran this concept past Sarah. And Sarah said, I actually had this woman, Madison, that wrote me cards for 12 months that she was a widow to, I had never met her prior. She wrote me cards every month and it was something that I looked forward to.

[00:21:15] It was like a lighthouse, like she was flashing this light and I was out in the waves, but I knew that if Madison like was able to be light again, there would be a time that I would make it to the shore and I would be able to have light in me again. And so I was like, oh, Sarah, there's something here.

[00:21:35] Like we need to do something about this. And so. Just a little bit prior, my friend Julie had connected to me with Courtney of every little seed and I, we didn't know why, and then all of a sudden it came together. That's why, because we need. Beautiful artwork that we can send these women with these notes.

[00:21:58] The loose leaf paper was so sweet and I'm grateful for Carrie for that. But I just believe too, that there's something about beauty coming into a space of darkness, and so I'm so grateful for Courtney and for you and for the every little seed team that came together to compile 12 different cards that are all light breaking through darkness.

[00:22:19] And so Glimmers of Hope is an extension of the heartbeat of the Baton Pass, meeting women in the middle of their pain with consistent and tangible encouragement. And we do that by pairing women walking through a hard season with a trained volunteer who sends her handwritten notes each month for 12 months, reminding her that she's not alone.

[00:22:39] And that light can still break through even in the darkest places. 

[00:22:44] Heather Winchell: Yeah, there is so much I love about that. First of all, I'm a words person. I love words and like you said, I mean getting a handwritten note, there's just something so endearing about that. And just words carry so much power. And I think that especially when they're written with somebody's own script in hand, it's, it's just an added element of humanity.

[00:23:08] And I also just agree with you that there is something so powerful. Art is meant to engage us in a way that, that concepts by themselves can't. Right. And so just the, the art depiction of light breaking through and the different ways that's represented, I just, it's so many invitations month after month into really seeing like, wow.

[00:23:32] Yes. Again, here's a new and beautiful way that light breaks into darkness, and I also just really love physical mail. 'cause who doesn't like to go to their mailbox and amidst all the, like, you know, Kohl's ads and credit card offers to get something, a real substance. It just, it makes my whole day 

[00:23:56] Kelly Olson: It does.

[00:23:57] Yes. I still go to the mailbox like on a regular basis with anticipation of like, oh, maybe there'll be something good in there, but. 

[00:24:05] Heather Winchell: Well, and for anybody listening that's, I don't know, maybe like thought well, yeah, but mail's expensive. Stamps are going up. Here's a fun fact for you. I was actually at the post office the other day buying stamps, and I made a comment about how the stamp price was going up and the woman that helped me educated me that we are actually as the United States, I think we still have the lowest um, rate on sending mail.

[00:24:30] So even if it seems expensive, it could be worse. Apparently other places in the world it's more expensive. 

[00:24:36] Kelly Olson: Yes. It's less than a dollar a piece of mail. 

[00:24:39] Heather Winchell: Yeah. 

[00:24:39] Kelly Olson: With glimmers of Hope. We prayed through this too, and we didn't want just. To add any more weight to our card writers. So one of the things that we include in the, their kit that they receive is not only the 12 cards and envelopes, but they also receive 12 stamps so that you don't have to go to the grocery store, the post office, like you literally can stay in your house.

[00:25:05] Or you know? Yeah. You don't have to add another thing to your to-do list because your heart connecting with someone else's is so precious that we're gonna pay for the stamps. 

[00:25:16] Heather Winchell: Yeah. Well, and think about it. I mean, Kelly, do you still have that letter that that person wrote you? 

[00:25:20] Kelly Olson: I do, yes. 

[00:25:21] Heather Winchell: Yeah. Would you say it's something you're going to hold onto for years to come?

[00:25:26] Kelly Olson: Oh, absolutely. It's in my little memory box, like along with the ultrasound picture of our baby B. That we lost. I have that little letter and yeah, I'm so grateful. 

[00:25:41] Heather Winchell: Yeah. And so $12 or $12 max for a year of those letters, I mean. Yeah. So worth it. Yeah, it's so the return on investment is so far beyond. I love everything about that.

[00:25:58] You've mentioned a a term a few times, and I would love to let you flush it out a little bit. Two terms actually. One is the quiet desperation. I would love to have you speak to that. And then also this term overcomers. I know both of those terms are on your website and kind of part of your mission. So could you tell us more about those terms?

[00:26:17] Kelly Olson: Yeah, absolutely. So the quiet desperation that term was as I heard it somewhere along the way, I don't, I don't believe I was the original person that coined it, but as I heard it along the way, gave language to how I felt my freshman year of college and, and I am so grateful for that. And then again, after my second daughter was born.

[00:26:45] I, this was our rainbow baby. I felt like I should be happy and grateful, but my sweet Nora girl was born lip tied, cheek tied and tongue tied, and had to have oral surgery at five weeks old, and it was the most depleting and exhausting nine months of my life. But I also held this like I can't talk about it because I should just be grateful that I have a baby.

[00:27:11] To take care of, but I was like, yeah, in the deep end, treading water and barely hanging on, and I wish that sooner I would've reached out to somebody and said like, I need a lifeline right now. I need help. Can somebody hold my crying baby for an hour? An hour? So I can just go for a walk? 

[00:27:34] Heather Winchell: Right? 

[00:27:37] Kelly Olson: Yeah. 

[00:27:38] Heather Winchell: Yeah.

[00:27:39] The overcomers piece. What would you say to that? 

[00:27:42] Kelly Olson: Yeah, so I think that there are survivors, I've read this too with like Warrior Chicks. She calls 'em soldiers versus warriors, but I think that there's like survivors and then there's overcomers and overcomers are the ones that have made it through the fire.

[00:27:59] The heartbreaking loss, the unthinkable trauma, the suffocating shame. The betrayal, you know, the list goes on. But they didn't just survive. Survivors are the ones that made it through the battle. I believe overcomers are the ones that with the grace of God fighting through, they made it through. Then they choose to pay it forward.

[00:28:21] One of the key like verses that we established early on with the baton Pass is second Corinthians one, three through four, and it says, praise be to God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.

[00:28:47] And I believe that those are the overcomers that they, instead of just saying like, yay, I made it through, they also think about, okay, how can I help others? There's something that I saw on Instagram years ago, but it's like the, those that made it through the fire and then go back with buckets of water for others.

[00:29:12] Heather Winchell: Yeah. Yeah. So, and again, it's maybe even back to the distinction of coping versus healing. Maybe a survivor is just like coping with what has happened, but the healing brings. 

[00:29:25] Kelly Olson: Yes. That's 

[00:29:25] Heather Winchell: so good, Heather. Um, the ability to like, to help others. Yeah. 

[00:29:31] Kelly Olson: Hmm. I, I've never made that connection, but I love that so much that, yeah.

[00:29:36] I couldn't help anybody else in my coping state. 

[00:29:40] Heather Winchell: Right. 

[00:29:41] Kelly Olson: But. When you experience God's goodness and grace, even through difficult seasons, then you can say like, yeah, there is a different ending to your story. 

[00:29:57] Heather Winchell: You mentioned that story and, and specifically presence in sharing and holding stories is really important.

[00:30:04] I know it's so powerful to share your story and have validation. To know that people will hold your story in confidence. It feels so important that when women are vulnerable with the things they've experienced and the hurts that they have, that they would feel safe and seen and known and accepted, and supported, those are the things that are going to move them out of isolation.

[00:30:31] And I know that it can be really tricky to, to help women feel that. What are the most common barriers that you see in women being able or willing to engage their story and receive care? 

[00:30:46] Kelly Olson: Hmm. It's probably twofold. There are women that have a story that are bound by the lies of the enemy, whether it's shame or whether it's your story doesn't matter, or it's not as bad as what so and so went through.

[00:31:07] Or the enemy saying like, don't tell anybody because if they, if they only knew. And then there's other women that have women and men, but people that don't even realize that they have a story. Mm-hmm. They write off significant events just like I did in their life as that was just fill in the blank. That was just how I was brought up.

[00:31:35] That was just a crazy party night. That was just a difficult season. But as we talked about already, the body keeps score and I've come to realize that unresolved trauma doesn't just disappear. It quietly shapes the way we live, the way we love, and even the way we subconsciously protect ourselves. And if we don't recognize it and.

[00:32:04] Address the fact that we do have a story. You can't bring it to the light. I've heard that the Lord reveals what he wants to heal, but oftentimes we have to lean in and ask the Lord like, why? Why do I feel this way? Why do I act the way I do? So a lot of people stay stuck, not because they don't want healing, but because they don't even realize that there's something that is there that they're, that needs tending to, that needs to be brought to the light.

[00:32:31] Then once they acknowledge that and say, okay, it has to be brought into the light. I, I do need to talk about it. It's like, where do I even bring this? There's been seasons of our lives that it's been like, I, we can't afford a counselor. Like that's just not in the budget right now. 

[00:32:49] Heather Winchell: Right. 

[00:32:49] Kelly Olson: And to know where is a safe place and who is a safe place, especially if you've been hurt before.

[00:32:57] Where you've maybe shared something and then been judged because of it, or it hasn't been held with confidentiality and with love and grace. So I wish there was a formula for it, but I, I truly believe that it's through prayer and just asking God to put safe people in your life and seeking out those individuals.

[00:33:26] But. There's not really a formulaic answer to that. I would encourage those that have a story to share though, to start by writing it. And if you have it written, then it's a whole lot easier to share. But if you don't even know what your story is, then it's harder to share. And as you prepare your heart.

[00:33:53] Write those, the pieces of your story that you can recollect out, then there's likely opportunities that you'll have that like clear vision to see, okay, Lord, who is the safe person that you want me to share this with? And one of the key things too that my counselor's been telling me and that my sweet friend Aubrey, uh, told me when we first started Baton Pass is.

[00:34:16] Like there's always your story that is between you and God, and you can choose what parts of your story you share with others, so it doesn't have to be the full, unedited, raw version. A lot of that, as you're writing your story, you're gonna find that that's just between you and God. But there is opportunity out there to say, okay, what needs to be brought to the light and who can hold my story with grace and tenderness?

[00:34:44] Heather Winchell: Yeah. There's a couple of things I wanna call out from what you just said. I do think it's important to become to a place where you can discern where the Lord's keeping is sufficient for the parts of you, um, but also. To know that there's just so much of our design is healing in the context of community.

[00:35:04] Have you ever heard of Kurt Thompson? 

[00:35:06] Kelly Olson: Yes. I love Kurt Thompson. 

[00:35:08] Heather Winchell: Yeah. I also really, really appreciate his work and just the, the awareness he brings for the importance of sharing your story to what you were saying. And, and again, not that you have to share all the details. I really think there are spaces.

[00:35:21] And details that the Lord's keeping is sufficient, that being seen and known and fully accepted by him is sufficient. And I think that, you know, I was even in the bookstore the other day and there's so many journals and so many resources to help people write their story or articulate their story, and that's wonderful.

[00:35:42] But I do think in large part for that to remain. Just personal and to not be shared in some kind of safe community is actually removing a tremendous pathway of grace. Because you know, as Kurt talks about, and I mean others and, and even, I mean like our design to be people in community, we. We heal and we are helped by being seen and being known and being accepted and being loved, and seeing another person looking back at us mirroring the reality of God's care for us.

[00:36:19] Right? Yes. So, yes, so I think that that's so important. 

[00:36:23] Kelly Olson: There's such power and sharing your story. Someone acknowledging it and the Holy Spirit living in them, being able to reflect God's love. One of my friends, Carrie Garcia, she has a whole course that equips individuals to be able to be. Those that hold story.

[00:36:49] Well, and one of the things that we were working on a retreat together and she shared with one woman, as one woman was sharing her story with us and we were both crying. She said, this is where the healing happens. This is where the healing happens, because these tears that you're seeing us cry like the heart of the Lord.

[00:37:12] Is with us right now, and we are, are, are with you and I I was just like, this is a holy and sacred moment that she can share the fullness of her story and we can hold it and let her know that the father's heart is broken over this too. 

[00:37:30] Heather Winchell: Yeah, just from what you've shared and then other conversations we've had, you know, we, we have both had the benefit of having some hard things that we were met by the Lord and by community we've been able to heal.

[00:37:43] Mm-hmm. And share stories. So we see, we get it, we have vision for it, we are committed. We're like, yes, that is possible. And sadly, I do think that there are women out there that that has not been their experience. Mm-hmm. They have been hurt. Maybe they've felt betrayed. Maybe they've just had wave after wave of experiences that have been an attempt to just like take every little piece of hope out of them that can be such a lonely and isolating place to be, and hopeless really, you know?

[00:38:18] And in that place it can be really hard to raise your hand. And ask for help or even hope for help. Mm-hmm. What would you say to the woman out there that longs for this connection but doesn't know what to do? Hmm 

[00:38:32] Kelly Olson: hmm. As you asked this question, I think of like faces specifically of women in the last couple of months that have cried out and have said like, I, I am in a really.

[00:38:50] Painful place and I don't know what to do, and I am so grateful that they reached out. And if you are walking through a season of suffering, I'm so sorry that you are navigating the season, that you are feeling like you're doing it alone. You are not meant to carry the pain that you are alone. So. What I did first was I just cried out to the Lord and asked him to show me my next steps, and then I would reach out to someone within your church or your circle of friends.

[00:39:24] The bravest thing that you can do is reach out and let someone know that you are struggling. It's almost like when you have something going on with your car and you aren't able to drive, like the first thing that they say to do is like to light that flare, to let people know that you are in distress and that you need help, and it's like you just need to light that flare in 2020.

[00:39:49] As we were navigating the pandemic and I. I reached out to a woman I barely knew. God just put her name on my heart and I gave her a phone call, and I just said, Lynn, I'm really struggling. I am in this very isolating place with the pandemic and with two little kids and trying to homeschool one of 'em, and I just feel like I'm going under, like, will you throw me a lifesaver?

[00:40:18] And I'm so grateful that she was so receptive in the last couple of months, two different women have reached out to me and I'm so proud of them for their courage to like reach out. One was through a mutual friend that knew we had similar stories, but just trust too that maybe the first person you reach out to isn't necessarily the the person that's going to walk with you, but ask them like, do you know of somebody that can.

[00:40:47] Walk with me or that can give me some insight as to the pain that I'm experiencing. My sweet friend Liz connected me with a woman that was walking through miscarriage and also dealing with some struggles that in, in her marriage that we have walked through. And to be able to like sit on the phone with her even, and to hold that space for her, like it was an honor and it was holy and it was sacred, and I am so grateful for it.

[00:41:15] So there are people. That are, are going to have the capacity. And, and it's not even like time capacity, but just the heart capacity to hold your story. And, but the the first step is just letting the Lord know that you need somebody and allowing him to direct you. And if you, if you don't know the Lord, and, and you don't have that relationship, cry out to him first and say, I wanna know you reveal yourself to me.

[00:41:43] And, and he will reveal yourself to me in a way that I can understand that you are here and I am not alone. 

[00:41:51] Heather Winchell: Yeah. I mean, because he is known as a man of sorrows. He, he gets it. 

[00:41:55] Kelly Olson: Yes. Yeah, a hundred percent. We are in the midst of Holy Week right now. Today is the day of the last supper, and he understands grief and sorrow and betrayal, 

[00:42:07] Heather Winchell: and loss 

[00:42:09] Kelly Olson: and loss.

[00:42:10] Significant loss. 

[00:42:11] Heather Winchell: Yeah. Well, Kelly, I know that the heartbeat of the Baton Pass is to help women in quiet desperation, as you said, to facilitate connection, to bring people together for empowerment, and helping them not just survive, but overcome, uh. And you know, just from looking at your site and hearing a bit about what the baton passes up to, I know that there are a variety of equipping opportunities that are accessible to all women.

[00:42:40] And I'd I'd like to let you speak to those. 

[00:42:43] Kelly Olson: Yeah, I would love to. Thank you so. Since we've talked quite a bit about Glimmers of Hope, let's start there. Three ways to Get Involved with Glimmers of Hope. You can sign up to be an illuminator, which is those that are the card writers bringing light into darkness.

[00:42:58] You can encourage other women. You can do that on our website. All of this can be done on our website, the baton pass.com/glimmers of Hope. And we will get you everything you need. We will pair you with a woman that has a similar story. And yeah, you can start engaging by writing cards. And I just love the way that the Lord has moved, even with one of the most recent illuminators that signed up, we had a woman that had lost her husband and was navigating widowhood.

[00:43:31] And Lana signed up to be the illuminator for this woman. And as we heard more of their story, we asked Lana like, why, why did you say yes to this? And she said, because I know the kind of hope that she needs right now. And as we dug deeper into their stories, we found out that both of them lost Their husbands at 62 years old.

[00:43:51] Their husbands both passed from cancer at 62 years old. And so you have this opportunity to be part of a, a grander story that God is writing when you say yes to being an illuminator. We've also heard from Illuminators that there's healing in it, that by writing these cards, like you are able to give to someone else what you maybe wish somebody could have given to you.

[00:44:13] And then another way to get involved with Glimmers of Hope is you can nominate someone to be a light seeker. Those are those who receive the cards. If you know somebody that's going through a difficult season. Jump on our website and nominate them. It costs absolutely nothing. We just ask that you provide their information, let them know that you're nominating them, and we will take it from there.

[00:44:35] We also are celebrating those that are brave enough to nominate themselves and say, I just need help. And then a third way that you can get involved with Glimmers of Hope. If neither of those feel like they fit, you can donate to the Baton Pass and help us cover the cost of glimmer, glimmers of hope with the 12 beautiful cards, thanks to every little seed, the stamp and the postage that it requires to get the packages to our illuminators.

[00:45:01] And then if glimmers of hope isn't necessarily something that's tugging on your heart, we have the opportunity to engage your story. Through our course called Engaging Your Story led by Angela, who I had referenced, who's now in Phoenix. She is gifted. She has, yeah, just dug deep into the trauma-informed biblically sound training world.

[00:45:25] She has studied under Dan Allen. She has studied under Carrie Garcia, and she has developed this beautiful five week online course. That allows you to engage in your story, write your story, and if you feel comfortable at the end, share in a intimate space. We limit these courses to 10 people each term, so they're very intimate and it always ends up being a beautiful tapestry of women that comes together for that.

[00:45:52] So under our equipping tab on our website, you can sign up for that. If you are local, if you're in the Chicagoland area in central Illinois, near Champaign or in the Phoenix Valley, join us at one of our events. We'll have those always on our website. And last, and I always hesitate to say this one because it's like, Lord, if it's you, we trust you and we'll go in it.

[00:46:14] But if you feel led to start your own chapter, we're up for the adventure. We've done it a couple of times now. Let's connect and let's pray through and let's brainstorm what that could look like, because we know that this is just the beginning of what the Baton Pass is going to look like. So thanks.

[00:46:32] Heather Winchell: Yeah, that's wonderful. And just to clarify, I know you mentioned that people could donate to Glimmers of Hope. Can people donate to the ministry in general or is that the only kind of like avenue for donation? 

[00:46:44] Kelly Olson: Absolutely. We have a general donation as well and that helps us cover the costs and the programming and the events.

[00:46:54] And we do the events really first class. They're not like skimped at any. We want the women to walk into the room and say, wow, they did this all for me. So we're always in a classy venue. We love the local church, but we don't host them in the local church because we wanna reach our friends that wouldn't step into a church that need to hear these stories.

[00:47:16] So a lot of times our venues are over a thousand dollars for the rental, and so yeah, we would welcome any donations to help us continue to host these events as well. 

[00:47:27] Heather Winchell: Yeah. Okay. Well thank you so much, Kelly, for sharing about. The heart and vision of the Baton Pass. Like I said, I love what you guys are doing.

[00:47:37] I am a person that has reaped the, I mean continuously unfolding benefits of having places that were, places of pain for me, shared with people and then, and then brought into the light and made places of healing and even new growth and beauty. Yes. So I'm just so behind. That. I mean, I can, I'm almost even picturing like a wave of healing and redeeming and restoration, just like covering, you know, the Chicagoland area, the Phoenix area, and beyond.

[00:48:16] So thank you. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for the work that you're doing. I'm going to transition us now to some questions that are just a little bit more fun to close out our episode. And the first is, if you could spend a day with any historical figure, who would it be and why? 

[00:48:36] Kelly Olson: I would say Corey 10, boom.

[00:48:38] Heather Winchell: Hmm. 

[00:48:39] Kelly Olson: Because she was such a woman of grace and forgiveness and truly an overcomer. And I'd love to pick her brain as to how she lived the way she did and understand more of her story. 

[00:48:54] Heather Winchell: Hmm. That is a great pick. I would love to be there for that day too. What is the most memorable gift you've been given?

[00:49:03] Kelly Olson: So I thought a lot about this one because I am a gifts person. I love, like that's my love language and it doesn't have to be huge. But I wrestled through what is a, a memorable gift, and I had to circle back to on my 40th birthday. Or the day after my 40th birthday, I received a gift, and as cheesy as this sounds, it was a gift from God.

[00:49:31] It wasn't a gift from anybody else. This was 19 years since I heard Lindsay share her story, and we had lost connection completely after that milkshake date. After we sat down at the diner, I didn't save her number in my Nokia phone, and I just referred to her as the milkshake lady. And the day though, after my 40th birthday, I was praying early morning driving to the gym and I asked God, am I really supposed to be doing this?

[00:50:03] I love seeing the lives change, but I hate telling my own story and talking about the trauma I experience. Like, does this ministry really have to exist because of the worst day of my life? And God showed me by reconnecting me with Lindsay. That day, that same day, that it wasn't the, the reason for the ministry wasn't because of the worst day of my life.

[00:50:29] It was because of the redemption story that he had written through Lindsay coming into my life. And so through Whitney, who is our director in central Illinois, she was recruiting people to be part of the baton paths. And she recruited Lindsay as a friend from church. And as Lindsay shared her story, she was like, you are the milkshake lady.

[00:50:50] Wow. And we had no idea that the Baton Pass had even started, and later that afternoon we were reunited. So that was definitely the best gift that I've received. 

[00:51:04] Heather Winchell: That is such a great gift. And how cool. I mean, you know, she shows up, she has a milkshake with you and knows that she's made an impact, that she's helped you.

[00:51:17] And she could walk away and that would be enough, but to now know like how God has taken those little loaves and fishes and done so, so much more than she could ask or imagine. I mean, that's just beautiful. 

[00:51:31] Kelly Olson: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:51:32] Heather Winchell: Yeah. What a cool, cool gift. 

[00:51:35] Kelly Olson: Yeah. And now she is a like dear friend in my life, somebody that I do a lot of life with.

[00:51:41] She's on our board for the Baton Pass, and I'm just so grateful that God has brought her back into my life. 

[00:51:49] Heather Winchell: Very cool. Kelly, tell me, what is a book that you would highly recommend and why? 

[00:51:55] Kelly Olson: I would recommend make sense of your story by Adam Young. Hmm. Adam is a, yeah, just brilliant communicator. I really enjoyed listening to the audio book.

[00:52:06] And he invites us to engage in our story with kindness so we can begin to heal. And he helps us realize pieces of our story that we maybe didn't even identify as. Yeah, difficult or harmful. You know, there's Big T, trauma and Loyalty Trauma, and he walks through what your healing journey can look like. So I'm very grateful for that book.

[00:52:32] Heather Winchell: Fun fact, I live in Fort Collins, which is where Adam Young is also based and the, it's funny because in our life group, several of us have seen that book or read that book and appreciate, again, like you said, the just the call to understand the things in your life that have impacted you not to get stuck on.

[00:52:50] I had this trauma and I had this trauma, but to heal, to recognize it, to bring it into the light and to be able to like move forward from it. But it was just funny 'cause the other day somebody in our life group was like, I had an Adam Young sighting 'cause they saw him like on one of the hiking trails or something.

[00:53:05] I haven't met him in person, but I hope too someday. 

[00:53:08] Kelly Olson: Yeah, he's definitely somebody too that I would love to have some conversation with. 

[00:53:14] Heather Winchell: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Alright, well this is the part of the interview where I actually invite you to take the mic and give a shout out of your own. Who would you want to say thanks for the doing that to and why?

[00:53:28] Kelly Olson: There's so many people that have inspired me along the way, but when it comes to just gratitude and the unsung hero. Uh, I wanna say thank you to my husband, my husband's Nate. Thank you for believing in the vision of the Baton Pass and supporting me through the victories and the challenges. Living out this vision has costed our family a lot.

[00:53:56] Our time, our resources literally sweat and tears. And for seven years I led this organization completely as a volunteer. The time that I invested brought in zero income for our family. But Nate, you never made me feel bad about investing my time and energy creating these safe spaces for stories to be shared.

[00:54:16] In fact, for majority of these events, babe, you've been right by my side volunteering, running tech, sound videos for all of our events. Babe, you are the oz behind the curtain and you are one of the biggest reasons we've been able to reach over 1800 women through our events. You are the manpower behind this movement.

[00:54:39] You are my safe place and my biggest cheerleader, and I'm so grateful for you.

[00:54:46] Heather Winchell: I echo. Thank you, Nate. Thank you for your part in doing this work. Well, Kelly, the last thing I have for you is a haiku that I've written as an expression of my thanks and to just kind of highlight why I wanted to have you on. So I'll read that for you now. A friend and a guide through the storm in the dark night.

[00:55:07] Thanks for doing that. 

[00:55:09] Kelly Olson: Thanks, Heather. That means a lot. 

[00:55:12] Heather Winchell: You're so welcome. And thank you for joining me today. 

[00:55:16] Kelly Olson: Thank you for having me. It's been an honor. It's.

[00:55:29] Heather Winchell: Thanks for doing that. Is presented to you by the apiary, a place for beholding and becoming, and thank you for joining us for today's episode. Before you go, I have a couple of invitations. If you found it meaningful, could I invite you to take two minutes to rate and review the show? I also invite you to help me create an upcoming episode of thanks for doing that by nominating someone or suggesting a topic.

[00:55:55] Let's link arms to call out the good and the beautiful that we see around us because I really believe that finding delight in our divided and difficult world could make all the difference.