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Make-a-Wish Foundation

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The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that "grants wishes" to children (2.5 years to 18 years old) with life-threatening medical conditions.

History

Make-A-Wish originated in Phoenix, Arizona in 1980, where a seven-year-old boy, Chris Greicius was hospitalized with leukemia. The Arizona Department of Public Safety, hospital workers and members of the community teamed up and were able to grant his 'wish': to become a police officer for one day. Ample media coverage led to the founding of a permanent charity organization, using Greicius's case as a model.

Originally based in the United States of America, a chapter in Canada, called Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada, was created in 1983 by Nigel Brown and Robb Lucy. The first Canadian wish was granted in 1983. It was a wish for a girl named Debbie who wanted to visit her parents in Germany. She got to visit them in August 1983. She died in October 1983. In addition a non-profit umbrella organization called Make-A-Wish Foundation International, licensed by Make-a-Wish in 1993, fosters the growth of affiliated Make-A-Wish organizations worldwide. More than 30 countries were affiliated in 2005.

In 2006, the foundation formed a partnership with television network ESPN to grant ten of its clients' wishes related to sports and athletes. The segments were televised on SportsCenter in a series called "My Wish".

Make-A-Wish foundation also supports an Annual European Charity Band under the direction of current international director Danny Lieberman that sends students to Europe to play music for children in hospitals and to grant wishes.

On April 9, 2007 Make-A-Wish was also seen on WWE's RAW when Mick Foley granted the wish of Michael Peña, who became General Manager for the night. Linda McMahon and Vince McMahon, the owners of WWE, are on the National Advisory Council of the Foundation. The foundation has also created the "yugioh:Tyler the Great Warrior" Yu-Gi-Oh! card due to the wish of 14-year old Tyler Gressle. In 2008, the foundation arranged for a girl named Kasey to meet Ryan Sheckler, star of the television show Life of Ryan in a second season episode. Sheckler talked about how meeting Kasey changed his view of life, because even though she had cancer, she was happy and tried to live a normal teenage life.

Parternship with the WWE

The WWE has been in parternship with the Make-a-wish for 20 years. One superstar John cena has granted 100 wishes up to date. The WWE will grant 50 more wishes leading up to Wrestlemania weekend. Make-a-wish and the WWE signed a multi-year contract.

Hunting controversy

Until a certain time, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted hunting trips and caused considerable outcry. The Make-A-Wish Foundation halted hunting trips, citing that guns were not safe. In response, hunter organizations formed a similar organization called Hunt of a Lifetime that arranged hunting trips for terminally ill children.

In popular culture

  • It was spoofed in the Family Guy episode If I'm Dying, I'm Lying as the Grant-A-Dream Foundation, where Peter pretends his son is dying in order to get the foundation to bring back a cancelled TV show.
  • In the game Portal The Aperture Science Corporation has a "Take a Wish" Tier of Research and Development, whose goal is to buy wishes off of the parents of terminally ill children and redistribute them to healthy wishless adults. It was a drastic failure.
  • In the Pushing Daisies episode "Corpsicle," the Make-A-Wish Foundation was spoofed as The Wish-a-Wish Foundation, where a woman from the foundation tried to grant the wish of Abner, who was waiting for a heart transplant and was connected to the murder of a group of insurance agents.
  • In an episode of House, while under the guise of being terminaly ill, House tries to spend the night with Dr. Cuddy, to which she replies that he should call the "Make-A-Wish foundation".
  • In one episode of Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle visits a terminally ill child and plays a videogame called Street Hoops with him, rubbing it in his face when he loses.
  • In an episode of South Park, Kenny is dying and the Make a Wish Foundation asks him what he wants most in the world. Kenny responds (through Kyle), saying that he wanted to live. He was then offered a chance to meet Madonna, which he promptly turned down, but not before taking a few shots at the pop star first.
  • In January 2008 the satirical news site The Onion produced a parody video claiming that Make-a-Wish Foundation was bankrupted due to a child's wish for "infinite wishes." The video was apparently so convincing that some people believed it was real and it had to be debunked by the urban legends web site Snopes.

See also

References

External links



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Last updated on Sunday March 02, 2008 at 19:19:10 PST (GMT -0800)
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