Teamwork Brings Maui Community Together to Grant Wishes
In the spirit of laulima—many hands make light work—Maui volunteers Nikki Wong and Jen McNeff not only grant incredible wishes together, but they regularly rally their community behind local wish kids, too. By forming close relationships with wish families, planning memorable wish reveal celebrations, and even organizing fundraising campaigns, their creativity, imagination, and commitment to making a difference shines through in all that they do for the Make-A-Wish Hawaii mission.
This year, Nikki and Jen became the first volunteers to grant a wish without the on-site support of Make-A-Wish Hawaii staff, who were unable to travel due to the pandemic. Together, they granted 15-year-old Wailuku wish kid Pua’s wish to have her own videography equipment. The two planned a special wish reveal at The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas Ka’anapali, where they had carefully wrapped and readied each piece of equipment for Pua to test out on the hotel grounds.
“When we got word that Pua’s wish would be coming true, we were so excited,” Jen says. “We were definitely a little nervous having it be just us, but we were honored that Make-A-Wish had confidence in us that we would make Pua’s wish day an amazing one.”
Although Nikki and Jen did not have Make-A-Wish Hawaii staff with them for Pua’s wish day, they did have other members of the Maui community alongside them, including staff from the Westin Nanea, who welcomed Pua and her family to an ocean-front room, and associate photographer Nicole from Anna Kim Photography, who captured Pua’s special day and even gave her a few professional tips.
“It seemed like a lot of people were excited to get involved, and we are always so grateful for the generosity of our vendors and of the Maui community,” says Jen.
Pua’s wish was just the beginning, inspiring Jen and Nikki to rally the community behind making even more wishes come true. Together, they organized a Workout for Wishes fundraising campaign, adapting the statewide campaign to grant wishes for Maui keiki. During the weeklong workout campaign, each number of exercise reps symbolized a statistic specific to the Make-A-Wish community on Maui. For example, 13 burpees represented the number of children on island waiting for their wishes to come true.
This inclusive campaign welcomed participants of all fitness levels and involved several gyms and CrossFit studios on this island, ultimately raising over $8,000 to grant 6-year-old Haiku boy James’s wish to go to Walt Disney World. In addition to organizing the fundraiser that made his wish possible, Nikki and Jen also served as James’s volunteer wish granters, planning another fun reveal to share the wonderful news with James that his wish would soon be coming true thanks to the generosity of the Maui community.
“It was a really rewarding experience to see how many people were willing to participate and donate to our fundraising event,” Nikki says. “I think knowing that the money raised would be used for our Maui kids was that extra incentive for people to donate and/or spread the word about the campaign.”
Nikki and Jen plan to host Workout for Wishes again this year with an increased fundraising goal in hopes of granting even more life-changing wishes on Maui.
Mahalo for all you do to make wishes possible, Nikki and Jen!