“Who wouldn’t choose Make-A-Wish as their favorite charity?” asks Valeri Huxley, VP of Operations at Chicago Title Company in Santa Clara County.

Twenty-eight years ago, the staff at the Chicago Title office in Alameda County launched a small softball tournament benefiting Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area. After a multiyear run in Alameda County, the Santa Clara County operation embraced and enhanced the tournament, moving it to a major softball complex in Sunnyvale. Since then, Huxley’s team has raised enough money to bring many wishes to life. “As our event grew, we went from raising about five thousand dollars a year to over seventy thousand,” says Huxley. “What initially started as a fun event for the real estate community developed into a true mission to help the kids.”

Make-A-Wish is close to the heart of some Chicago Title staff—Huxley says that several of her colleagues have children who were granted a wish. “They were generous enough to share those stories with our participants, on our final days of the tournaments,” she explains. “Just hearing from someone in our community about how it changed their lives makes it so special.”

Unfortunately, this year COVID-19 restrictions required many of our external event fundraisers to abruptly cancel their upcoming events, including Chicago Title’s softball tournament. But the company didn’t let this curveball stop them from raising money for wishes! Despite the ongoing pandemic and not being able to hold the big event, staff and other members of the real estate community still raised more than $25,000 for Make-A-Wish this summer.

“For every bit you give of your time and money, you get gratification back tenfold,” says Huxley. “For all of us, it’s knowing that we are truly making a difference in those children’s lives—they, and their families, are so in need of wonderful memories and something really special to look forward to.” Huxley and her team are hopeful that they’ll be able to safely host the tournament next summer, and they already have ambitious plans! “Next year will be our twenty-ninth annual and we hope we can break our record,” she says.

“To date, we’ve raised over a million dollars for Make-A-Wish and we are really proud of that.”