Cinderella said it well. There is nothing as intimate and personal as a wish from the heart… and nothing as pure as the wish of a sick child. The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wish of a child who has a life-threatening condition. Unaffected by the lure of material possessions and power that can come with adulthood, the wishes of these children are often so modest, it’s hard to believe that is all they have asked for. For many, that wish comes in the form of a trip to the Wonderful World of Disney.
Whether he or she wants to giggle with Goofy, scream from the top of the Tower of Terror, or just be surrounded by happy people, Disneyland is a magical safe-haven from the reality of their condition. In fact, the first official wish granted was a trip to the fantasy theme park. Since there are so many sick children who wish to pilgrimage here, a seperate non-profit organization was created called the Give Kids the World Village. This whimsical 70-acre resort makes sure that the magic never ends for families returning from the Disney theme parks.
Unfortunately, a rhyming verse of “bippity boppity boo” from a fairy godmother cannot make all these wonderful dreams come true, so the DisneyWorldTrivia.com Dream Team project came about to raise money for Make-a-Wish. The Dream Team has created a Firstgiving page and has already raised close to $19,000, not including the funds they receive from auctions, selling of www.disneyworldtrivia.com merchandise, and other efforts.
For a family struggling to cope with the financial, emotional, and spiritual hardships of a seriously ill child, a trip to the “world where dreams come true,” really is a dream come true. The Make-a-Wish Foundation does an exquisite job with every wish, whether be a request to act in a movie, or the need for an air conditioner in their home…the foundation goes above and beyond what that child could possibly imagine.
If you have a few minutes, read a few of the wish stories featured on the Make-a-Wish Foundation site. You will be struck by some of the unique requests made and the vast measures taken to make an ordinary wish into an extraordinary life experience. While I enjoyed reading all the stories, here are a few of my favorites:
- “I wish…to be a ballerina” (Sena, age 4)
- “I wish…to meet the Pope” (Brendan, age 4)
- “I wish to be a police officer” (Darren, age 7)
- “I wish to dig for dinosaurs” (Taylor, age 8)
While a dream is a wish the heart makes… it is people like those in the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Dream Team (with the help of Firstgiving!) who can make them actually come true.
