2026 Walk for Wishes
Taking Steps for Hope and Joy
On Saturday, August 15, Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area hosted Walk for Wishes, our signature family-friendly, peer-to-peer fundraising event. Presented by Sony Interactive Entertainment | PlayStation, the event brought together wish families, volunteers, fundraisers, corporate parters, and community supporters for a morning walk around the beautiful Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos. Together, we raised more than $140,000—enough to grant 14 life-changing wishes!
With KRON4's Reyna Harvey as the emcee and DJ Rob Reyes providing the tunes, the event was an opportunity to celebrate with our community and enjoy food, entertainment, and family-friendly outdoor activities. The program featured Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore as well as our first-ever dog costume contest.
Thank you to our Presenting Sponsor, Sony Interactive Entertainment | PlayStation, as well as our Wish Sponsors, Penserra, Salesforce, and United Airlines; our Hope Sponsor, Corsair; our Star Sponsors, DGDG Does Good and John and Deb Lloyd; and our Media Sponsor, KRON4.
Photography by Richard Moss.
Thank you to our incredible event volunteers who kept 2026 Walk for Wishes running smoothly. We couldn't have done it without you!
Our fabulous emcee KRON4's Reyna Harvey with San Jose Sharks mascot Sharkie at 2026 Walk for Wishes on August 15 in Vasona Lake County Park, Los Gatos.
CEO Betsy Biern receives a commendation from Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore.
Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore addresses the Walk crowd (including Sharkie.)
Team Sony Interactive Entertainment | PlayStation, our Presenting Sponsor, at 2026 Walk for Wishes. Thank you for helping us grant life-changing wishes, through event sponsorships and more!
Sharkie with the Chick-fil-A® Cow mascot. Chick-fil-A generously donated breakfast chicken biscuits to fuel our walkers.
Contestants line up beside the stage for our inaugural dog costume contest!
Senior Events Manager Rachel Faught (center) hosted our dog costume contest, with wish alums Milan and Matthew serving as our judges.
Our winner of the "most wishy" award in our inaugural dog costume contest
49ers fans: Winners of "best group costume"
This tiny taco dog won Best in Show!
All the incredible contestants on stage for our inaugural dog costume contest!
Sharkie thinks our winner looks like a tasty bite-sized treat!
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Walkers set out on the course at beautiful Vasona Lake County Park on August 15, 2026.
Course monitor volunteers cheered our walkers on and kept them on track!
Volunteers created signs for each Walk team out on the course.
Team Ella celebrates a successful walk!
Walkers complete the course. New this year: In addition to the shorter course, we introduced an extended 5K course.
Hope Sponsor CORSAIR representing! Led by Board Member Peter Hilliard (third from left), CORSAIR Team raised more than $2,000.
Wish Sponsor Penserra's PF Flyers, led by Board Member George Madrigal, raised more than $9,000 for wishes, putting them among our top fundraising teams.
Team United Airlines, one of our Wish Sponsors, at Walk for Wishes. Thank you for helping us grant life-changing wishes!
Team Tasha all smiles after crossing the finish line.
Team Walking on Bliss, led by Make-A-Wish Great Bay Area Operations and Data Associate Mandela Bliss (center), raised nearly $4,000.
Wish kid Devan (second from left) and his family celebrate post-Walk. Devan's wish to go to Paris was granted earlier this year.
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DJ Rob kept the energy high for our Post-Walk Celebration.
Team Anthony walked in memory of wish kid Anthony, and raised more than $3500 in support of wishes.
Wish alumnus Avery and mom Kristina were part of our Vendor Village with their business, Brave Birds California. Their stationery and gift business donates 10% of proceeds to pediatric cancer research and patient support programs.
Wish alumni Matthew Ilg (left) and Milan Alas (right) welcomed wish families to share their stories on The Wish Kids podcast.
Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area ambassador and race car driver Casey Moyer came out to show his race car and support the mission.
A young walker gets her face painted at Walk for Wishes.
A caricature artist captured the fun of the day with personalized drawings.
A young walker admires his face paint at Walk for Wishes.
The celebration continued as walkers and Make-A-Wish staff members hit the dance floor together.
The Wish It Forward Council's spring campaign, Circle of Wishes, led by council chair Amy Hofmann, raised more than $26,000 from 41 participants, enough to adopt two wishes through our Adopt-A-Wish program. The commemorative plaques were on display in our Wish It Forward tent, which also had free buttons for wish alums and family members, and other swag giveaways.
The Wick2Whispers mascot greeted attendees at the candle-making station hosted by wish mom Sophia, founder of Wick2Whispers.
The monster truck photo op was a hit at Walk for Wishes.
Bay Area favorite food trucks Bay Area Halal Eats, Cielito Lindo, and Bay Area Softy served up tasty treats at the Post-Walk Celebration.
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A huge thank you to Santa-Cruz-based GOODLES for generously donating boxes of their mouthwatering mac and cheese for Walk for Wishes!
Thank you to all who attended, sponsored, fundraised for, and donated to our 2026 Walk for Wishes! We can't wait to see you next year!