Magical Mentions

Kudos to our Kids For Wish Kids® schools!

2008-05-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

To say our Kids for Wish Kids schools have been busy granting wishes these last weeks of school is an understatement! In the last couple of months 19 schools have granted wishes to children all across our Chapter and shared many magical experiences! I must brag on a couple of schools from my hometown of Collierville, TN. First time wish sponsor Bailey Station Elementary granted Isaiah's wish to go to Walt Disney World Resort and boy did they pull out all the stops! Isaiah thought he was at the school to judge an art contest - which he did do. He went down each hallway where the students were lined up holding their masterpieces. But also each hallway was decorated with different themes - concessions, rollercoasters, sun glasses, etc. Sweet Isaiah never caught on. He was there on a mission - to judge the art contest and he took his role very seriously! At the end, he was led into the gym where all the students had gathered and he learned his wish was being granted. It was a truly amazing experience for Isaiah, his family, the students, faculty and parents! Long time wish sponsor, Collierville High School, granted Josh's wish for a Disney Cruise. The student body was assembled in the gym recognizing "winners" of some awards they had created. The last award was the "Most Inspirational Person" and was awarded to Josh who was invited to share his story of his illness. The students were so very considerate and the gymnasium was silent while he as well as his father spoke. After Josh spoke, he learned that while he definitely is an inspiration to the students, he really was there so they could grant his wish. The photo above is Josh with me. And these are just two of the forty some odd wishes that have been granted through our Kids for Wish Kids program this year. Should you want information on how your child's school can participate, please call either our Memphis office (Sally Whitehorn) or our Little Rock office (Kat Tucker) and they will be happy to tell you all about it!

Next on our agenda are our 2 Golf Tournaments. The Arkansas Celebrity Golf Classic is June 1 and 2 and there is are opportunities for non-golfers to take part with the Pocket Full of Wishes party Sunday night and the Wish Fest concert Monday night. Please contact us for more information! Then our Shaun Micheel Golf Classic is later in the month on June 22 and 23. There are a few team spots available should you want to play in this top notch tournament!

Until next time,

Best "Wishes,"
Liz Larkin
President & CEO

Is Spring Finally Here?

2008-04-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining and the temperature is rising so surely Spring is near! Let me begin by congratulating our staff and volunteers in the Ft Smith, AR area for a fabulous radiothon with our media partner, KTCS radio station. This past Friday, April 4, donors, wish children and volunteers shared their stories and the listeners responded with an overwhelming $47,000! A big congrats on a job well done!
Wish Kid Journey and her sister Jordan are pictured with me above. Journey's wish was granted at Schilling Farms Middle School last month and her family has returned from their dream vacation to the Walt Disney World® Resort in Orlando, Florida. They had the time of their lives and Journey felt like a celebrity will all the attention she received.
To date we have granted 121 wishes to wonderful boys and girls just like Journey. These next few months promise to be even busier in the wishgranting world and I just want to thank you all for all you do for our organization - we truly count on you and very much appreciate you!

Best "Wishes,"
Liz Larkin
President & CEO
Make-A-Wish Foundation® of the Mid-South

Wish-A-Thons

2008-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

February started off in the Mid-South with a huff and a puff with the violent storms that devastated much of our area. Our hearts go out to the many families that lost so much and to our precious Chi Omegas and all the other students and faculty at Union University. February is a big month for us in Arkansas with both the Heart-filled Wish-A-Thon in Little Rock and the Have-A-Heart Wish-A-Thon in Jonesboro and with both of these campaigns literally on the heels of the devastation, we were not sure what to expect.

But the generous donors in Arkansas not only stepped up and helped the tornado victims, they also gave to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in a BIG way! In Little Rock, we partner with The Point 94.1, The Buzz 103.7 and KATV Channel 7 and a mere 2 days following the storms, we were able to raise over $101,000! Thank you to our generous donors, to the public at large, to the volunteers that helped out and of course to the TV and Radio Stations - for without all of you, this would not have been possible.

The following week in Jonesboro, an even bigger surprise came. The Have-A-Heart Wish-A-Thon celebrated its 10th year and raised an astounding $186,555!! In Northeast Arkansas, we partner with the Triple FM Radio Group (The Fox 104.9, The Eagle 100.5 and The Mix 106.7) and KAIT 8. Again these same stations had been raising money the week before for the storm victims.

I cannot express enough my appreciation to all the volunteers, donors and media partners that made these two Wish-A-Thons the success they were. 57 wishes in Arkansas will be granted from these two campaigns - wishes to far away places or as simple as a puppy. So thank you to all who took part in these Wish-A-Thons - we could not do it without you!

Best "Wishes,"

Liz Larkin

President & CEO

Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South

Happy New Year!

2008-01-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

A very happy new year to each of you! We started 2008 out with a bang by hosting Wish Kid Brandon from the Seattle, Washington area. His wish was to meet Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies. The southern charm and hospitality was flowing and Brandon and his dad, Brent, had a wonderful time. Not only did he get to spend quality time with Mike following a practice that he observed, but he also met some of the Miami Heat players who were staying in his hotel. Court side tickets were part of the package and the Memphis Grizzlies organization bent over backwards to ensure Brandon had the time of his life! It makes me proud to know the staff and volunteers of the Mid-South Chapter took time out of their busy lives to give Brandon this once in a lifetime experience!

Next on our calendar is the Heart-Filled Wish-A-Thon in Little Rock, AR. We will once again be partnering with The Point 94.1, The Buzz 103.7 and KATV Channel 7 to share the amazing wishes we have granted. Our goal is to recruit more volunteers and share the story of this amazing organization while raising the much needed funds to grant the wishes of the eligible children in Arkansas. I will share our results with you in my next posting! Until then may each and every day, you count your many blessings in life.

Best "Wishes,"

Liz Larkin

President & CEO

Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South

Stories of Light - It's a wrap!

2007-12-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

A BIG Thank you to the many listeners of FM100, to our wonderful and loyal volunteers and donors and to the dedicated staff of the Mid-South Chapter for our 16th annual Stories of Light radiothon results! More than $608,000 was committed on December 13 and 14 to help grant wishes to the children we are privileged to serve. That translates to 121 wishes that will be granted thanks to our donors' generosity!

It won't be long until we are holding our Heart-filled Wishes Radio/Telethon in Little Rock with The Buzz 103.7, The Point 94.1 and KATV Channel 7 which will be February 8 and the following weekend for our 10th annual Have-A-Heart Radio/Telethon with Triple FM Radio Group and KAIT. These two events will help us continue to grant wishes in Arkansas! We are very indebted to our media partners and cannot thank them enough!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my Blog. A Belated Happy Hanukah, a Early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

Liz Larkin

President & CEO

Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South

Wow another posting so soon?

2007-11-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

I told you I would do better! 2 postings in 2 months - not too shabby! I do intend to update each month so we shall see how I do. I am sure many of you had your fair share of trick or treaters this past week. My 7 year old dressed as a Sumo wrestler complete with the inflatable costume. He looked hilarious. My 13 yr old on the other hand dressed in his typical social attire - shorts and shirt from Hollister - he said he was a Hollister model! I will say he had more clothes on than the typical Hollister model!

I cannot believe November is already here. In the two short months of our new fiscal year, we have definitely been busy. Between the budget approval process, converting to a new accounting software package to granting 28 wishes, we are catching ourselves coming and going! I am proud to share that we have two new members of the Make-A-Wish team here in the Mid-South. Miranda Harbor is our Communications Manager and Christy Weir is our Accounting Manager. They are both great assets to our organization!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!! My next posting will be after our annual Jackson Radiothon which is November 16 with Star 107.7 and Stories of Light which is December 13-14 here in Memphis. If you are in the area on November 16th stop by and say hello - we will be at Starbucks on Vann Drive or if you are in the Memphis area on December 13th or 14th, join us at the Shops at Saddlecreek or tune in to FM100.

Best "Wishes,"

Liz Larkin

Second time is a charm!

2007-10-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

Apparently blogging is not my best feature! 2 entries in 10 months is not too good but I promise to do better. We have recently wrapped up our 2007 fiscal year and what a year we had! Who knew that 365 days also translated to 275 wonderful and magical wishes for the precious children we served and that those wishes translated to 139 trips in the United States, 6 International trips, 105 things they wanted, 23 Meet & Greets with Celebrities and 2 wishes where they wanted to Be someone else for the day! And of course it takes money to grant these wishes and with the generosity of our donors, we raised over $3.5 million! Now we certainly could not do all this without our wonderful volunteers - the over 500 individuals who help us to grant wishes, raise money and work in the office. And last but certainly not least are the staff that I am blessed to work with each and every day - they are top notch!

So thanks for stopping by to read my Blog and I promise my next entry will be sooner than another 10 months!

Have a great day!

Best "Wishes,"

Liz

Inaugural Message

2006-12-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

Who would have ever thought I would have my own blog? I still am not all that sure what a blog is but here goes! My hope is to share wonderful wish stories and kudos about our staff and volunteers with you on a semi-regular basis.

After each wish we grant, we send the family a Wish Satisfaction Survey so they can tell us about their wish experience. Here are some comments from some very happy parents:

"We really enjoyed ourselves. It was an experience of a life time to us."

"Everything was great. I can't thank you enough for what you and your people did for my family."

"Thank you so much for granting my daughter's wish. It actually helped in getting her to talk more."

"We were extremely pleased and everyone was wonderful. The entire experience was amazing! Thank you very much!"

The staff, volunteers and especially the wish sponsors really do create magic every time a wish is granted. Our fiscal year just began in September and through November, we have granted 77 wishes. For each volunteer that has worked a wish and to each wish sponsor that donated the funds for a wish and to our Wish Coordinators - Tawnette, Wendy, Tracy and Melissa - my hat is off to you!

The Memphis staff is gearing up for our annual Stories of Light campaign with FM100 on December 14 & 15. My next entry will have lots to share from this wonderful community outreach. Stay tuned - literally!

Until then,
Best "Wishes"

Liz

and remember it is not a Last Wish but Lasting Memories.