Spring Tart, a Make-A-Wish of Alaska and Washington volunteer, gave a very personal and heartwarming presentation about the Foundation. She had the personal experience of being a 15 year old diagnosed with cancer and benefiting from a wish from the Make-a-Wish foundation. Spring and her family went on a very special week- long Caribbean cruise. Her personal story gave us a real world example of the “power of a wish”. The organization’s mission is “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.” Spring told us the ideal of hope, strength and joy is magic to a child suffering from a life threatening condition. Children’s wishes come in four basic types: 1, I want to go …, 2, I wish to have…, 3, I wish to meet …, and 4, I wish to be….. It all began in 1980 with the simple dream of Chris, a boy from Phoenix, who wished to be a police officer for a day. Chris' friends and family made his wish possible, and after seeing the impact the wish had on him, his family and even the community, his friends formed the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Locally, since 1986, the foundation has granted 5,200 wishes with the support of 500 volunteers and grants more than 300 more wishes each year.
Spring concluded with a request to get involved in this very worthwhile organization which is in need of more volunteers and donations. More information can be found at http://www.makeawishwa.org.
Thank you Spring for sharing your story and your ongoing support for Make-a-Wish Foundation.