One Boy’s Dream Sparks a Global Phenomenon
It all started in 1980 with Chris, a seven-year-old boy with leukemia. His dream was to be a police officer, so family friends and members of the community pulled together to make his dream come true. He received a custom-made officer’s uniform and hat, earned motorcycle officer’s wings, rode in a helicopter, but shortly thereafter, Chris passed. As the story of Chris’ wish spread, it inspired a group of officers, friends, and family to start an organization. Later that year, Make-A-Wish was formed.
Here’s a video that describes Chris’ story more in depth:
Today, Make-A-Wish’s vision is as strong as it was over 30 years ago, and this vision is fueled by the belief that granting wishes of severely ill children fills them with joy and helps them to feel like a normal kid again. But granting wishes is so much more than just making a child happy—the impact of a fulfilled wish has a far-reaching impact! Such positive experiences help kids feel stronger, enabling them to fight their illnesses and face certain medical treatments.
In 2014 alone, Make-A-Wish granted 14,000 wishes, which averages out to one every 38 minutes! While that is certainly a lot of wishes, this covers only about half of all eligible children. Make-A-Wish wants to be able to grant a wish to every eligible child.
Volunteer at Your Local Chapter
As you can imagine, it takes a lot of help to grant wishes to so many children, which is why volunteers and donors are so instrumental in carrying out Make-A-Wish’s mission. If you’re interested in volunteering, consider this: Volunteering takes on many different roles and tasks, so use your strengths and talents to find a volunteering project that suits you. The easiest way to find volunteer opportunities is to check out your local chapter’s website. You can search for a chapter here.
Give in a Variety of Ways
Like volunteering, there are many options when it comes to donating. Giving monetarily is what most of us think of when we hear “donate,” but did you know you can also donate airline miles or stock in addition to making tax-deductible donations? Explore all the other ways to give on the Make-A-Wish website.
You can also order holiday cards to benefit children in a specific region.
Read More Inspirational Stories
If you’re like me and want to read even more stories that tug on your heart strings, here are a few that I especially enjoyed:
- Kate Creates a New Ice Cream Flavor
- Legally Blind Artist Raises $1 Million With His Art
- Caitlin Dances Again
Want to read additional heart-warming stories of wish kids? Click here.
What say you?
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