Wishes & More® enhances the life of a child fighting a terminal or life-threatening condition by providing extraordinary experiences including wishes, scholarships, memorials and more.
Wishes & More® is a Minnesota-Based Tax Deductible Children’s Charity that:
Enhances the life of a child fighting a terminal or life-threatening condition by providing extraordinary experiences including wishes, scholarships, memorials and more.
Wishes & More creates extraordinary experiences for wish children:
The goal of this children’s charity is simple: to grant wishes to children with terminal and life-threatening illnesses and provide hopeful hearts, happy memories and assistance to those who love them.
How Wishes & More Children’s Charity began and where we are now:
Decades of Experience Working with Make-A-Wish Foundation®
Wishes & More® conceptually began in the fall of 2004 in order to fill the gaps of other wish granting charities serving children with a life-threatening or terminal illness. The founders were seasoned children’s wish granters who had served as volunteer members of the board of Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Minnesota. The president, Karla Blomberg, had proudly served as their volunteer president for over 20 years. Additionally, she also had served as a board member of Make-A-Wish of America and Make-A-Wish International for many years and served as president for three years for each of those charities. The vast experience of Karla and the other members of the board was a strong foundation for building this new organization that would serve children in Minnesota and neighboring states.
Expanded Children’s Wish Age-Range Serves a Broader Base of Needs
The goal was not only to grant wishes to children but to fill other areas of need for this service population. We identified the need to increase the more standard age limits. Parents of infants were frequently in need of a reasonable “wish” for their little ones. These are the children that would most likely not survive to express their wish. These wishes are for comfort; such as nursery equipment & bedding or for the warm arms of grandparents who were unable to afford travel to the bedside of the child. It was also noted that 18 year olds were treated in pediatric centers and still in high school and needed to be included. Therefore, the age limits were defined: birth to the 19th birthday.
Scholarship of Hope® Program Assists a Child’s Education
We knew that we were involved with children and parents who were experiencing sadness, fear, anxiety and great trauma to their emotions, their financial situation, their education and their social network. We also knew that children are survivors and we had firsthand experience of miracles of remission and kids beating the odds. We wanted to focus on those positives so we developed the Scholarship of Hope® program that provides a grant of $1,000 for higher education to any wish child. Each Scholarship of Hope® certificate provides faith in the future and each time the $1,000 is distributed we are assisting a child in furthering their education.
Financial Relief to Families Who Experience Loss of a Child
Sadly, we also knew that not every story has a happy ending. When a child dies the family devastation is beyond words. Our experience clearly indicated how many families needed financial assistance for final arrangements and we were shocked to find out how our generous and giving community lacked these services. With this in mind, we established the Memorial program. When a child enters our system and does not live to experience a wish, we will provide $2,000 to the parents or guardians to use at their discretion.
Hunting, Fishing, and Sports Wishes for Children
And, finally, Wishes & More intended to enable popular Minnesota wishes to become a reality. We weren’t established in order to grant hunting wishes but we were established to be able to grant hunting wishes as well as other sports and outdoor wishes.
Providing Children’s Wishes & More Since 2005
Wishes & More granted its first wish in March 2005 and we have already become established as a very special charity for kids in Minnesota and bordering states. Community fund raisers, local parades, special events, and little extra surprise enhancements for each child’s wish are some other ways.
