Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501 nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of terminally ill children between the ages of 21/2 and 17 years old.
Make-A-Wish was founded and headquartered in Phoenix. The organization operates through its 60 chapters located throughout the United States. Make-A-Wish also operates in 45 other countries around the world through 38 other affiliate offices.
History
In the spring of 1980, 7-year-old Christopher James Greicius was being treated for leukemia. He aspired to be a police officer. U.S. Customs Officer Tommy Austin befriended Chris and worked with officers at the Arizona Department of Public Safety to plan an experience to lift Greicius' spirits. Chris spent the day as a police officer, rode in a police helicopter, received a custom-tailored police uniform, and was sworn in as the first honorary Public Safety patrolman in state history. Greicius died soon after, but his wish became the inspiration for the Make-A-Wish organization.Professional wrestler John Cena holds the title for the most wishes granted by a single individual, with over 650 wishes and counting. Singer Justin Bieber has volunteered in over 250 wishes. National collegiate sorority Chi Omega has raised over $20 million and has volunteered over 1 million hours of service for Make-A-Wish. Because of this commitment, Make-A-Wish recognizes Chi Omega as one of their Cause Champion sponsors.
Process
Children who may be eligible to receive a wish can be referred by one of the following three sources:- Medical professionals treating the child
- A parent or legal guardian
- The potential wish child
A child with a critical condition who has reached the age of 2 1/2 and is under the age of 18 at the time of referral is potentially eligible for a wish. After a child is referred, the child's treating physician must determine whether the child is medically eligible for a wish, based on the medical criteria established by Make-A-Wish. In addition, a child cannot have received a wish from another wish-granting organization.
Each Make-A-Wish chapter follows specific policies and guidelines for granting a child's wish. Make-A-Wish works closely with the wish child's physician and family to determine the most appropriate time to grant the wish, keeping in mind the child's treatment protocol or other concerns. Most wish requests fall into five categories: I wish to go, I wish to be, I wish to meet, I wish to have, or I wish to give.
Governance
The national board of directors helps chart Make-A-Wish's course. The board has a vast array of experience and skills that help maintain Make-A-Wish's status as the largest wish-granting organization in the U.S. The board determines the mission and vision, evaluates and supports the president and chief executive officer, and protects Make-A-Wish's assets. The board enhances Make-A-Wish's public standing, ensures accountability, maintains legal integrity, and assesses its own performance.The senior leadership team is composed of Make-A-Wish's top-level management. Each member is a national office leader in disciplines that include wish-granting, fundraising, legal, brand advancement, and operational activities. The president and CEO guides the strategic plan in areas such as board development, talent development, fundraising, and corporate relations.
Hunting and fishing
Make-A-Wish stopped granting wishes involving hunting-related activities, including fishing, use of firearms or other weapons that are designed to cause animal injury in 1996. This was largely due to concerns over child safety, the pressure from animal-sensitive donors, and criticisms from animal rights groups. In response, three organizations were formed: Hunt of a Lifetime, which arranges hunting trips for terminally ill children; Catch-a-Dream, which was conceived by Mississippi outdoorsman Bruce Brady and formed by his loved ones following Brady's death from cancer to grant hunting experiences to ill children; and Life Hunts, founded by the Buckmasters American Deer Foundation.In popular culture
- In the 1997 made-for-TV movie A Child's Wish, Missy's wish is to go to the White House to meet the president who was responsible for signing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 into law, which her father lobbied to pass after being fired for visiting Missy in the cancer ward. Make-A-Wish is not sure she will get to meet the president or be allowed to see the Oval Office, but in the end, President Bill Clinton, playing himself in a cameo appearance, meets her to make her wish come true.
- In the South Park episode "Kenny Dies", Make-A-Wish is satirized when they visit Kenny in the hospital and ask what his one wish is.
- In the Family Guy episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", a parody of the Make-A-Wish called the Grant-a-Dream Foundation was presented.
- In January 2008, the satirical news site The Onion produced a parody video claiming that the Make-A-Wish was bankrupted due to a child's wish for "infinite wishes". The video was apparently so convincing that some people believed it to be real, and it had to be debunked by the urban legends website Snopes. The Mansion and The Chaser's War on Everything did similar sketches about the Make-A-Wish, the latter causing an unprecedented amount of controversy.
- Make-a-Wish made headlines in 2013 with an elaborate Batman-themed wish, turning a young child into "Batkid". This wish was heavily publicized, and was chronicled in a documentary entitled Batkid Begins. In 2018 Batkid was considered to be cancer-free.
- In The Fault in Our Stars, a 2014 American romantic drama film, the character Augustus suggests that Hazel should use the "cancer wish" she received from "Genies" a fictional organization just like Make-A-Wish to travel to Amsterdam to visit her favorite author.
- In a comedy sketch from the Key & Peele season 4 episode "Scariest Movie Ever", Jordan Peele portrays a dying child unsettling his doctor and a Make-a-Wish representative with increasingly disturbing "wishes", deliberately provoking the doctor into calling him a "devil child" and questioning his beliefs about "the essential goodness of children."
- In Zac & Mia, a 2017 an American romance teen drama web television series based on the novel of the same name, the titular character Zac uses the wish he received from Make-A-Wish to recreate prom for Mia after she initially forgoes her own due to her embarrassment over her current medical condition.
- Four children were guest-stars on the show Cake Boss in 2017, in which Buddy Valastro helped four children make one-of-a-kind cakes before making a hot air balloon cake for a reception for a Make-A-Wish event.