Causes: Children & Youth, Children & Youth Services, Health, Patient & Family Support, Public & Societal Benefit
Mission: It's our vision to grant a wish to every eligible child, but we can't do this important work alone. We need the help and support of our medical referral community to refer eligible children, we need volunteers to meet with wish children and their families to guide them and assist in the wish-granting process (from ideation to implementation and execution), and we need the help and support of our donors to fund our program. For 35 years, Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington has granted wishes to children with critical illnesses. This year, we aim to grant nearly 300 wishes, but this largely depends upon Covid and its impacts. With a vulnerable population, many of our wishes were put on hold due to Covid concerns. Historically, 80% of the wishes we grant involve airline travel and large group gatherings and these activities could not take place due to local and state restrictions. While these wishes were put on hold, these children remained part of our program so our staff needed to keep them engaged while they were waiting. For those wishes we were able to grant, we saw an average wish cost increase by about 25% due to demand and supply chain issues. Additionally, we need a large volunteer base trained and ready to grant the wishes currently in progress and be ready to grant the wishes of those children who have been waiting once Covid-imposed restrictions are lifted.
Target demographics: create life-changing wish experiences for children with critical illnesses
Geographic areas served: Alaska and Washington
Programs: wish-granting!
Mission: It's our vision to grant a wish to every eligible child, but we can't do this important work alone. We need the help and support of our medical referral community to refer eligible children, we need volunteers to meet with wish children and their families to guide them and assist in the wish-granting process (from ideation to implementation and execution), and we need the help and support of our donors to fund our program. For 35 years, Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington has granted wishes to children with critical illnesses. This year, we aim to grant nearly 300 wishes, but this largely depends upon Covid and its impacts. With a vulnerable population, many of our wishes were put on hold due to Covid concerns. Historically, 80% of the wishes we grant involve airline travel and large group gatherings and these activities could not take place due to local and state restrictions. While these wishes were put on hold, these children remained part of our program so our staff needed to keep them engaged while they were waiting. For those wishes we were able to grant, we saw an average wish cost increase by about 25% due to demand and supply chain issues. Additionally, we need a large volunteer base trained and ready to grant the wishes currently in progress and be ready to grant the wishes of those children who have been waiting once Covid-imposed restrictions are lifted.
Target demographics: create life-changing wish experiences for children with critical illnesses
Geographic areas served: Alaska and Washington
Programs: wish-granting!
Children & Youth
Seattle
