Zach's Wish

Zachary is thirteen years old and he loves video games, art, puzzles, reading, and he is an “outdoor sportsman.”    Garfield is his favorite comic character.  Zach was abused as a toddler and was placed in a foster home.  His father was murdered, and his foster parents adopted the precious and needy little boy.  Sadly, his adopted father passed away.  He and his mother recently moved from Pine City to St. Anthony in order for him to be closer to his treatment center and for his recently widowed mother to be closer to support family.  Zach has a defective heart, but a pure soul.  To read about Zach's wish:When our wish wizards Karla Blomberg and Denny Hecker met with wish child Zachary he knew exactly what he wanted to do.  Zachary is a HUGE Garfield fan.  So it made perfect sense that he would want to meet his hero, Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield.  Wishes & More^® worked their magic and the arrangements were made for Zach to travel to Indiana to tour PAWS, Inc., the headquarters for Garfield and to meet Jim Davis of course!

On April 18^th Zach and his Mom, Holly, were picked up and taken to the airport for their flight to Indiana.  Our Wishes & More volunteers, John Peterson and John Burch, as well as representatives from Northwest Airlines met them at the airport.  Holly said that Northwest Airlines treated them like royalty and the flight Captain even took Zach on a tour of the cockpit.  He was a celebrity that day with Northwest employees stopping by to say hi.  Zach was so excited when one of the Northwest employees asked him for his autograph.  Upon arrival in Indianapolis Zach and his Mom were whisked away in a 14 passenger limousine to Muncie where the PAWS, Inc. headquarters is located.  Zach was thrilled to ride in such an enormous limo!  They even stopped at a local fast food restaurant along the way much to the curiosity of other customers. 

On the morning of April 19^th Zach and Holly were picked up at their hotel and brought to PAWS, Inc, Garfield headquarters.  Mr. Davis' assistant guided Zach on his amazing tour and introduced him to everyone  who works on the comic strip. And, best of all, Zach was able to spend some time with his hero, Jim Davis.  Mr. Davis autographed items for Zach and promised to send him a drawing of Zach and Garfield together.  His favorite gift was a Garfield t-shirt signed by Davis and everyone that works at PAWS, Inc.

Zach became great friends with Bill, his limo driver in Muncie.  Bill invited Zach to go fishing with him.  Zach’s Mom said that he had a wonderful time!

His wish was not over just yet!  The wonderful people at Northwest Airlines and Indianapolis Speedway offered Zach and his Mom tickets to tour the Indianapolis Speedway in Indianapolis.  They were able to spend a few hours touring the racetrack.  Zachary and Holly returned to Minnesota on April 21^st with awesome memories of a very amazing wish!

Zach in the Press:
   * Hartford City News "Rains' Wish is Granted" click HERE
   * St. Paul Pioneer Press "Wishes & More Fulfills Dreams" click HERE
 

Our thank you from Zach: