About the SOF

With help from a group of hockey parents, the idea for the Shannon O'Hara Foundation began just weeks after Shannon's passing.  During the Rochester Youth Hockey girl's tournament in 2012,  the first $5,000 was donated by the families of Shannon's peers in her memory. The SOF was born.

Each year that same girl's hockey tournament takes place in Rochester, now renamed the Shannon Cup. Girls from across the upper Midwest compete, and monies raised through merchandise sales help fund scholarships for higher education and brain tumor research.

Scholarship recipients are selected each year by the SOF Board of Directors, based on the ideals that Shannon lived by: show determination, grace and a positive attitude. Be a good friend and teammate.

Research monies are donated to Mayo Clinic in Shannon's memory. On the day she passed, Shannon's tumor cells were donated to Mayo Clinic. Those tumor cells live on and are a part of ongoing research that has led to a clinical trial using an immunotherapy approach to treating pediatric brain tumors.

Her life continues to matter.