Making A Wish Come True!

Greetings Parents!

This fall we introduced our students to Haley, a 6 year old girl with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML).  Her wish is to swim with the dolphins this spring and our job is to make that wish come true by raising the $5,000 needed to cover the cost of the trip.  The Kids for Wish Kids program is a division of Make-A-Wish Foundation that partners with schools to bring character education into action.  Through this program our students are developing their:

• Respect - Understanding the difficulties another faces when battling a life-threatening illness and the impact on his/her life, as well as the other members of his/her family.  Students are also challenged to work together to create fundraising opportunities, putting them in positions of needing to hear each other's ideas and work cooperatively.
• Compassion - Students are building empathy for Haley and other seriously ill children in our community.  They are finding ways to put their wants second, in order to positively impact the life of another.
• Scholarship - Students are exercising their creative problem-solving capabilities.  They are focused on an end goal and see their efforts as integral to finding success.  There will be roadblocks along the way that will require perseverance and continual determination to maneuver.  
• Integrity - In the Kids for Wish Kids guide for schools they have chosen integrity building as part of their vision for the program.  They approach every aspect of their work with honesty and transparency in honoring the needs of the wish recipient, their families and supporters.  We are challenging our students to keep this critical piece of the process in mind as they strive to meet our goal.  

The impact of this program is fairly amazing, as you can see.  It gets better than this though!  81% of wish kid parents observe an increased willingness by their child to comply with treatment while they are being sponsored for a wish.  89% of doctors, nurses and social workers say they believe the wish experience influences the child's physical health.  97% of wish families and 96% of health care professionals observe an increase in the child's emotional health.  Lastly, 97% of families say the wish experience strengthened their family.

Already through their own efforts, our students have raised $861.00!!!  Many more fundraising ideas are on their way, and students are always welcome to make a "just because" donation at any time.  These can be given to their adviser or brought to me.  What an inspiring and worthy cause - and your children are rising to the challenge - amazing!