Volunteer Spotlight: Joan Trabucco
After 20 plus of helping grant wishes for Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area, Joan Trabucco will tell you that it never gets old. She says every wish is an opportunity to make a new memory, and she sees each as an incredible challenge she takes head on to ensure each child’s wish journey is unique.
Joan is constantly surprised and touched at how thoughtful and caring many wish children are. Some wish kids have asked why she can’t go on their wish trip with them. A very touching moment with another child stands out in her mind. “The wish child’s favorite song was ‘Home’ by Phillip Phillips," Joan says. "When I asked why, he told me to listen to the lyrics. This was a wish child that had been in foster care and was in the process of being adopted. He had so much wisdom at nine years old.”
Joan Trabucco and wish kid Charon at CuriOdessy for the Harry Potter-themed wish reveal.
Throughout her 20 years of volunteering, Joan has been instrumental in fulfilling a diverse range of wishes, and she is always thinking about ways to enhance the experience for the wish kids. Because many wishes involve Disney, she asks her family and friends who visit the parks to grab extra mouse ears and souvenirs if they can, so she can give them to wish kids during their wish reveals.
During the wish interview, Joan enjoys learning about the hobbies, interests, and experiences of the wish children and their families and using her insight to help create unforgettable wish experiences.
“One of my favorite wishes was my very first wish to have ‘Christmas in June,’" says Joan. "With the wish child’s mom being laid off at Christmas, the child wanted to experience what they had missed.”
That wish came together with the help of the Central County Fire Department, who hosted the festive celebration at a Burlingame firehouse.
“The firehouse had all the decorations, made fake snow, cooked Christmas dinner, and had carolers sing and show up with presents for the child," says Joan. "It was unbelievable. The firefighters were grateful to have a joyful event to be involved in. I received an email from the wish kid years later, letting me know he was working and in college. He said he never forgot that wish.”
Another favorite wish of Joan's was Charon's wish to go to Universal Studios, specifically to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. To let Charon know her wish was coming true, Joan recruited her co-workers at VMware to help with a wish reveal at CuriOdessy, a hands-on museum in San Mateo.
“We dressed up like the Hogwarts professors, as did the museum staff, and they even had someone play Harry Potter!" recalls Joan. "They had a boa constrictor snake, owl, and an experiment table set up for the wish child. We presented her with a scroll and a wand informing her that she’d been accepted into Hogwarts. It felt that this wish reveal might have been as exciting as the wish!”
Joan says it’s captivating moments like these that bring wish kids an immense amount of joy after dealing with such difficult times in their young lives. She says, “I am forever grateful for the experience of bringing as much joy into a child’s life as possible.”