by Kyle Nguyen, Staff Writer
On Friday, April 15, Make-A-Wish hosted a balloon release in the bowl in honor of granting their 10th wish, allowing people to write their own wishes on the balloons.
Make-A-Wish is a foundation that helps raise money to grant wishes for children with medical conditions. This year, the club has granted their 10th wish to Sergio, a boy who was diagnosed with Type 1 Hemophilia and who has always dreamt of meeting the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. In spite of his condition, Make-A-Wish helped to fulfill his avid passion for the sport as he was able to meet and talk with the baseball players and even practice hitting balls with them in the baseball field.
“Make-A-Wish’s goal is to instill hope, strength, and joy into the children facing some kind of medical condition through the many wishes that they grant each year. These wishes help the children continue to fight against their medical condition to become better in the future,” said Dominic Cao (’16), vice president of the club.
In addition to granting these wishes, Make-A-Wish is also renowned for hosting the annual Hot Chocolate Fundraiser in the first three weeks of December in which they pass out hot chocolate to people walking through Mile Square Park to admire the festive holiday lights. Something newly established in Make-A-Wish as well is their Walk-For Wishes event that takes place at the Orange County Great Park.
“It is a huge fundraiser within all the organizations within Orange County to celebrate all the wishes that we have all granted as one big organization and it’s just a fun way to communicate with all the other organizations and to have a great time together at the various booths with foods, games, prizes and face-painting,” said Cao.
The wishes that the foundation grants are extremely unique and powerful in that they work to inspire the children to fight on and to show them that their medical conditions do not limit them, but rather make them stronger. As a whole, Make-A-Wish works to make up for lost time with the great experiences that they create for the children in need.
“It is so surreal to believe that we are able to give back to the community and spread some hope, strength and joy. Seeing that these wishes take effect really makes me happy at the end of the day and that all my dedication and time put toward Make-A-Wish led to a great change in someone’s life,” said Cao.
For those interested in joining Make-A-Wish, stop by their meetings every Thursday in Room 131.
