New group's goal: Fulfill more dreams for sick kids

Robert Franklin,  Star Tribune
October 20, 2004

Breakaway Make-A-Wish supporters said they filed papers Tuesday to start an alternative children's wish group for Minnesota that will have broader eligibility and programs.

The new group, Wishes & More, is seeking money, volunteers, and professional legal and accounting help, said Karla Blomberg, who was president of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Minnesota. 

The new group's mission is to enhance the lives of a child with life-threatening conditions through "extraordinary experiences" and other help, Blomberg said. "It's starting from ground zero. ... It's going to be a Minnesota organization." 

Blomberg and 22 other board and advisory board members of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Minnesota resigned Oct. 4 because of differences with the national organization.

 
Karla Blomberg
Richard Sennott
Star Tribune

The board's own wishes, shunned by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, will be at home in the new organization. Blomberg said it plans to:

• Grant memorials to families of children who die before a wish is fulfilled. Make-A-Wish Minnesota used to grant $1,000 memorials until the national organization told it to stop.

• Grant wishes for kids to go hunting, which was prohibited after the Minnesota organization granted a bear-hunting wish in 1996.

• Lean heavily on volunteers rather than the paid executive director required by Make-A-Wish of America. Blomberg, a Fridley Realtor and a founder of the Minnesota group, served as its unpaid president for 20 years and would have been removed under the national group's plans.

Blomberg said Wishes & More also hopes to:

• Grant wishes for children and youths from birth through age 18, instead of the Make-A-Wish limits of 2½ through 17. Wishes for the youngest children would be age- and family-appropriate and might include a family portrait instead of a trip to Walt Disney World, she said.

• Add a program of $1,000 higher-learning scholarships for children who have been granted wishes. "We believe in positive thinking and what that can do," she said.

Representatives of each group expressed support for the other Tuesday.

Make-A-Wish nationally grants more than 11,500 wishes a year, but 25,000 children a year are eligible, so "there's more than enough wishes that need to be granted," said Jim Maggio, a national spokesman in Phoenix. "Any time you've got a concerned group of volunteers who want to do something for the greater good, it's admirable."

He said Make-A-Wish is proceeding with day-to-day business in Minnesota and is seeking an executive director and a replacement board.  Blomberg said the new group should "just make more opportunities for kids" along with Make-A-Wish, and "we think the two should enhance one another."

The new group came out of calls to her and a meeting Monday night of about 14 former Make-A-Wish activists at Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub in St. Paul.

An open house for the new group will be held at Reid's from 4 p.m. until closing on Nov. 13.

Blomberg said people who have committed to supporting the new group include several former members of the Make-A-Wish Minnesota advisory board, including former Gov. Jesse Ventura; Reid, a Minnesota Wild announcer and former North Stars player; K102 radio personality John Hines, and Scott LeDoux, an ESPN sports commentator and a former boxer.

The Minnesota Twins also will lend support, she said, as will University of Minnesota goalie coach Robb Stauber and sportscasters Bob Kurtz, Clay Matvick and Dark Star. Several media personalities are expected at the open house, she said.

Blomberg said she is seeking $250,000 to get the new group going and "several thousand dollars" already have been pledged.

Robert Franklin is at rfranklin@startribune.com.