Make-A-Wish^® Southern Nevada

Each September begins our new fiscal year. This year we celebrate the 187 wishes we granted in our past fiscal year (breaking our own record from last year’s record on how many wishes we’ve ever granted in one year at our chapter) and we look ahead with a sort of clean slate.  

We’re currently working with over 200 wish kiddos and their families to get them their heartfelt wish and maybe it’s no coincidence that our video partners in crime for the past several years has been Heartfelt Productions. 

I recently sat down for an episode of their podcast with this dynamic Dad and Son duo, who have helped us tell our stories but more importantly, have allowed our wish families to be in the moment when their child finds out their wish is being granted so they can be present instead of trying to capture the moment on their phones. There’s been a lot of talk over the last several years as we all spend more and more time looking down at our phones instead of one another. 

What Heartfelt Productions has enabled us to do is be present with the Wish Kiddo and their families when we’re granting the wish and allow us a rare glimpse back into our past as we look through our catalog of some of the wishes we’ve granted. A child’s face lighting up, a dad turning from the camera to not show his full emotion or a Mom, telling her child’s medical journey in a way that I dare you not to be moved. Look at our YouTube channel, at all the stories we’ve told and we’re not stopping any time soon. 

You see, I have this vision for our chapter, that everyone in our community (and our larger community, the entire state) will be one degree of separation from our mission in the next five to ten years. What does that mean? It means everyone will know we’re no longer serving only terminal kids (86% of our kids go on to lead extraordinary lives), that we grant wishes for children with critical illnesses, you’ve experienced a wish reveal, attended one of our events to learn more about what we do, or you know a Wish Kiddo. If we can get everyone in our state to be one degree of separation from our mission, I believe we’ll get closer to meeting the vision of Make-A-Wish to get every eligible child a heartfelt wish. How? The community will help us. If a child next door is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, a one degree of separation community member may ask the family, “Have you been in touch with Make-A-Wish?” And because the community understands we’re the prescription for hope, they’ll help us fund these wishes. As Stephen Sondheim so eloquently wrote in his musical, Into The Woods, “Wishes come true…not free.” 

So as we begin our new fiscal, I encourage you to go on a journey with us to become a one degree of separation community member. Watch this 58-minute episode of the Heartfelt Productions podcast, watch some videos from our YouTube channel and when you’re ready, please visit www.wish.org/snv and click on “Ways to Help.” We could always use one more degree of separation community member, is that YOU?