Our team met with Christy, the Gift Officer for The Make-A-Wish Foundation South Carolina chapter to discuss this famous foundation and how their team has been helping in our community ever since the first wish was granted on November 10, 1984.
It’s hyper-local. Wishes from children who are S.C. residents are handled and planned at the South Carolina chapter. Regardless of whether the child is currently in Texas getting treatment or visiting a doctor in New York, that wish is taken care of by its home state. So if you know or are a Make-A-Wish child from South Carolina, your wish was planned right here in Greenville.
Wishes don’t affect just the child but the whole family. Critical illnesses take a toll on parents and even siblings, all of whose lives have turned upside down as well. When wishes are granted, especially ones involving trips, the entire family gets a trip too.
Volunteers are so important to Make-A-Wish Foundation. And not just the gift-giving side of things.
The South Carolina Chapter has two programs made for people to get involved: the Trailblaze Challenge is a 28.3 or 16.4-mile hike (not race) for all fitness levels that symbolizes the journey that every Make-A-Wish child and family goes through.
Running Wild for Wishes is a program designed for runners to train and run races together. The training and finishing goals together represent the trials and hurdles each family faces. Both programs also include wish children and their families participate.
According to the Make-A-Wish foundation, 55% of their wish granted children live past their disease.
