Make-A-Wish Foundation
"We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening
medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and
joy."
"We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening
medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and
joy."
The foundation started in Phoenix in 1980, when a
terminally ill boy, Chris Greicius had a dream of
becoming a police officer. 
Tommy Austin, a police officer who knew Chris and his mother,
arranged for Chris to take a police helicopter ride. On April 29, 1980, a helicopter took Chris to a police station
where he met many police officers.
Later, Chris was given a specialized police uniform and a battery
operated police motorcycle. Eventually
Chris died and was to be buried in Illinois.
Arizona police officers Scott Stahl and Frank Shankwitz flew to Illinois
for the burial, and on the way home they thought about how much happiness and
relief they had brought to Chris and his mother, Linda. After returning to Phoenix, they started the
Chris Greicius Make-A-Wish Memorial to help other ill children get their
wishes. They had to adjust their
schedules, but they managed to help another sick child, Frank "Bopsy"
Salazar, achieve his three wishes of riding in a hot air balloon, being a
fireman, and going to Disneyland before he died of leukemia. Today, after helping more than 110, 000 kids
achieve their wishes, Disneyland is the top wish and they are one of the
foundations biggest supporters.
Make-A-Wish
Foundation is obviously an organization of faith, because it is run by people
of faith. The people who volunteer to
operate the organization give up many hours of their free time to help kids get
their wishes. Many of the volunteers
have jobs that they have to schedule their volunteering around. These people are dedicated to helping kids
get their wishes. They understand that
it is very difficult for kids to know that they will die without growing up and
living a normal life. The volunteers
also know that it is very difficult for the parents of these kids to watch
their children die. But the Make-A-Wish
volunteers try as hard as they can to alleviate some of the pain and make the
kids laugh and smile instead of constantly thinking about their illness. 
Today, there are 76 chapters of the
Make-A-Wish Foundation granting the wishes of sick kids in the United States
and in 27 international areas. The
children range from 2 up to 18 years old.
For older kids, the wishes are usually different from the normal
Disneyland wish. 
Some teenagers wish to
drive a certain car or even to hang out with celebrities like Adam Sandler. Some of the ill children go on to lead perfectly healthy lives, but many die very happy soon after recieving their wish.