Fighting a deadly disease can make a normal childhood incredibly difficult. Instead of going to soccer practice and sleepovers, kids have to deal with doctors’ offices and drug treatments. But thanks to organizations like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, children with life-threatening medical conditions get to forget about their troubles and focus on just being kids.
Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has helped kids realize their wildest dreams—whether it’s that magical trip to Disneyland or meeting a famous athlete.
For her wish, Santa Marian Laila Lopez wanted to become a police officer for a day. The 5-year-old was “sworn in” by Santa Maria Police Chief Danny Macagni and participated in a handful of police-related activities, including riding in a police Hummer vehicle, wearing her own police uniform, and appearing on the scene of a car accident. To make Laila’s wish come true, chapter staff members had to fill in because of a shortage of Spanish-speaking wish granters in Santa Maria, said Make-A-Wish Foundation CEO Shanna Wasson Taylor.
None of the wish-grantings would be possible, however, without the help of volunteer wish granters, who work with the children to make their special wishes come true.
Bilingual wish granters are especially needed in the Santa Maria area, said officials at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties, which covers Northern Santa Barbara County.
The position, whether monolingual or bilingual, requires strong communication skills (particularly with children), a positive attitude, resourcefulness, creativity, and reliability.
The next wish granter training session is scheduled for Aug. 1 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Santa Barbara. Volunteer applications can be submitted at tri-counties.wish.org, and class registrations listing the date and name of the training should be e-mailed to registrar@tri-counties.wish.org.
For more information, call Janelle at 676-9474, Ext. 0.
News Editor Amy Asman compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send comments or ideas to the Sun via e-mail at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2009.