Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a prominent nonprofit organization dedicated to granting wishes to children facing life-threatening illnesses. Established in 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona, its mission is to provide hope, joy, and strength to these children during challenging times. The organization has evolved significantly, incorporating in 1983 and expanding to over sixty chapters across the United States and various international branches. Wishes often include experiences like meeting celebrities, visiting theme parks, or fulfilling unique dreams, with Disney destinations and celebrity encounters being particularly popular.
The foundation receives referrals from medical professionals and families, ensuring that children between the ages of two and eighteen who meet specific medical criteria are eligible for wish fulfillment. Financial support primarily comes from individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and grants, with a significant contribution from partners like Macy’s. The average cost to grant a wish exceeds $10,000, underscoring the organization's reliance on community generosity. The Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted over 285,000 wishes, making a profound impact on the lives of many families.
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Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a charitable organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Since its inception in 1980, Make-A-Wish has grown into a large-scale corporate charity with both domestic and international branches. The Make-A-Wish Foundation aims to help sick children by providing them with the hope, strength, and joy they need to fight life-threatening illness or the comfort they need to get through their final days. It raises money for these endeavors through individual donations, planned gifts, corporate sponsorships, and grants. Make-A-Wish recipients typically wish for opportunities to visit a theme park, meet a celebrity, go on a shopping spree, or get the chance to do a dream job for a day. It is estimated that, on average, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish every thirty-three minutes. Over the course of its existence, the foundation has granted wishes to more than 585,000 children.
Background
The Make-A-Wish Foundation got its start when a group of people from Phoenix, Arizona, came together in 1980 to make a terminally ill young boy's life dream come true. The events that ultimately led to the Make-A-Wish Foundation's birth began with Christopher James Greicius, a seven-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia. Facing a poor prognosis, it seemed unlikely that Greicius would ever get the chance to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a police officer. Knowing that the young boy had little time left, Greicius's family and friends sought to lift his spirits and make his few remaining days as happy as possible. One of those friends was US Customs officer Tommy Austin. Aware of Greicius's desire to become a police officer, Austin decided to help make the boy's dream come true by arranging for him to take a ride in a police helicopter. When Austin brought his request to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS), officials there volunteered to go even further. In addition to the helicopter ride, Greicius was treated to a police escort to DPS headquarters, sworn in as the state's first honorary DPS patrolman, and given his own DPS uniform. Although Greicius passed away just a short time later, his experience laid the groundwork for a much bigger movement that would touch the lives of many more sick children.
After Greicius's funeral, several people involved in the effort to make his dream come true discussed the idea of doing the same thing for other sick children. Together with many of the other people who helped make Greicius's special day possible, they formed the Chris Greicius Make-A-Wish Memorial, which was the forerunner to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In its early days, the Chris Greicius Make-A-Wish Memorial worked on raising enough funds in the Phoenix area to grant its first wish. By March 1981, these efforts paid off and allowed the organization to grant its first wish to Frank "Bopsy" Salazar, a seven-year-old with leukemia who wanted to be a firefighter. The organization subsequently granted several more wishes in the two years that followed before officially incorporating as the Make-A-Wish Foundation in May 1983.
Overview
The Make-A-Wish Foundation grew quickly after its 1983 incorporation. Within a year, it boasted twenty-two separate local chapters. Over time, that number more than doubled. Make-A-Wish chapters operate across the United States, and an international branch of the organization is committed to granting wishes in countries around the world.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation's mission is quite simple: find children with life-threatening illnesses and grant them wishes that will bring their dreams to life. The process, however, is a bit more complicated. The first step is the referral of qualified candidates. Because Make-A-Wish grants wishes only to children between the ages of two and eighteen who have a life-threatening medical condition, the foundation relies on referrals from medical professionals, parents, and the children themselves. Before a candidate is approved, they must be confirmed to be medically eligible for the program. If a child is deemed medically eligible and has not already received a wish from any other wish-granting organization, they are granted approval as a Make-A-Wish candidate.
Once approved, the child is allowed to make their wish. Most Make-A-Wish kids choose to go on trips, meet a celebrity, or fulfill a personal dream such as becoming a police officer or a firefighter. The most popular wish is a trip to Disney theme parks such as Disneyland in California or Walt Disney World in Florida. Children who choose to meet a celebrity often pick their favorite actors, musicians, or athletes. Professional wrestling superstar John Cena became the all-time most requested Make-A-Wish celebrity when he granted his record-breaking 500th wish in 2015. When it comes to travel, Hawaii is the most popular destination among Make-A-Wish kids. Some choose to go to places like France or Australia. Although Make-A-Wish strives to grant every child's wish, the foundation does have a few restrictions. Most notably, wishes involving hunting trips or anything related to firearms are not granted. Children also are prohibited from wishing for unlimited wishes.
After a child decides on their wish, a team of Make-A-Wish personnel and other volunteers work together to make that wish come true. While some wishes are relatively easy to organize, others require a great deal of time and effort. Most wishes also require a significant amount of funding.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a nonprofit charity that relies on the generosity of donors for the funds necessary to grant wishes. Many of these donations come from private donors. Traditionally, donors simply gave money that Make-A-Wish used as it saw fit to fulfill wishes. Starting in 2016, however, donors could give to the specific wish fund of their choice through a special program called Wishmaker. Beyond private donations, most of Make-A-Wish's funding comes from corporate donations and sponsorships.
Bibliography
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Whitaker, Bill. "How Do Make-A-Wish Wishes Come True?" CBS News, 18 Oct. 2015, www.cbsnews.com/news/make-a-wish-60-minutes/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.