Like a stone tossed in water, a wish doesn’t just make a splash. It ripples – sometimes for years on end, touching lives in unexpected ways.

Matthew Rosato was 8 when he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. Around his 10^th birthday, Make-A-Wish Northeast New York granted his wish to travel to the Great Wolf Lodge Water Park in Pennsylvania.

“As Matthew splashed in that water from morning ’til nightfall, with nothing but light in his eyes and a perpetual giggle, I watched in awe at his complete and utter disregard of his illness while he leaned into each and every joyful moment of life,” dad Steve Rosato recalled.

“Personally, I was forever changed. Something in that Make-A-Wish weekend made me, as Matthew’s Dad, feel not alone and that it’s all going to be OK. I don’t quite know how or why. … It’s just a feeling one gets when love and hope are offered up so freely. And that hope still sits in my deepest core today.”

That wish was more than a decade ago. But that wish touches the lives of other wish families, and one in particular, to this very day.

Lasting Impact

As manager of the Saratoga Olive Oil Company in Saratoga Springs, Steve Rosato enthusiastically took part in the recent Make-A-Wish Northeast New York Adopt-A-Wish Holiday Campaign, organizing the selling of wish ambassador stars at the company’s Saratoga Springs and Lake Placid locations.

“This was very personal to me,” he said. “That Make-A-Wish weekend was over 12 years ago for my son. And while textbooks still say his disease is incurable, Matthew, now 21, defies the odds. He sees only with the wonder of a child’s eyes and miraculously loves all unconditionally.”

You may not be surprised to hear that Saratoga Olive Oil was accommodating when one of its vendors needed flexibility due to family health struggles. Now consider the company had no idea the impact its Make-A-Wish fundraising efforts had on that same family.

“One of our former neighbors sent us a photo from your Lake Placid location, which showed lots of stars on the wall,” vendor Jerome Lauzon wrote to Saratoga Olive Oil Company owners Clint and Barbara Braidwood. “The little girl on the teal star is our Isabella. She was granted a wish a year and a half ago [a sensory room makeover] and was chosen to be an ambassador.

“Your participation directly affects so many children and families in ways most people don't realize. It's very personal to us and we can't thank you enough.”

Neither Steve Rosato nor Jerome Lauzon knew the other is a wish dad. But Matthew’s wish, more than a decade ago, impacted the Lauzon wish family today, just as both wishes families’ fundraising efforts touch the wish families of tomorrow.

And the ripples roll on.