Gracie 'Makes-A-Wish'

This past week, I was able to have lunch with the Make-A- Wish Club.

Make-A-Wish grants wishes to kids with life-threatening or life-altering illnesses.  Make-A-Wish was started in 1980 when a little boy in Arizona with Leukemia dreamed of being a policeman. The people in Arizona made sure he could have his wish and he was a policeman for a day. They decided to help other kids get their wishes and started the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Make-A-Wish Foundation has helped 148,000 kids receive a wish.

I am a Make-A-Wish kid; I was nominated by my doctor, and chosen to be granted my wish.

One of the first packages I received when I was in the hospital was a pair of ballet pointe shoes signed by all of the ballet students at the Ballet Conservatory. They were hung up on the wall in my hospital room and they hang in my room today. A family friend, Catherine Meyers, arranged for all of her friends at her studio to do this for me. 

Now that I am in middle school, I have a math tutor. When we saw the list of tutors, Catherine’s name was on it so we immediately called. Needless to say, she has helped me a lot with my math. But that is a whole other story. One night after tutoring, we asked her what clubs she was in at the high school. She said she was in the Make-A-Wish Club and that she was the president. 

I said, “I am a Make-A-Wish kid,” and she said that she knew, and that they had been raising money to help my wish come true. I was so surprised and my mom started to tear up. I had no idea anyone knew about my wish, let alone people at the local high schools including Aliso Niguel were raising money for me!

My mom asked if we could meet the members to thank them. I got to go to the high school and have lunch with them. I was so excited to meet the kids, they had pizza and dessert, and even decorated the room with balloons and Make-A-Wish posters. 

Catherine gave me her Aliso Niguel High School sweatshirt to wear. My mom talked about the wish process we had gone through and they asked me why I chose the wish I did. They were so nice and I know that when I go to Aliso Niguel, I will definitely be in that club. They raise money by doing bake sales and they wrapped gifts over the holidays. There are 20-30 members.

I want to thank everyone for working so hard on making my wish come true.  I want to especially thank Catherine for the ballet shoes and signed T-shirt from the Houston Ballet she had sent to me when I was in the hospital and recovering. They help to inspire me every day. I look up to her and girls like her who work hard at school and dance, and still find time to help others. She is one of my heroes.

So in a few weeks my wish is going to come true. It has taken almost a year to plan. I am really excited about it.

My wish is to go to Paris, France.

If you would like to help a kid like me get their wish go to wishocie.org/indivdonate.htm