Chi Omega sorority helps grant a wish
By raising more than $4,400, USU’s Chi Omega Sorority was able to send a boy diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia to Disney World last spring.
In conjunction with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Chi Omega granted the wish of 13-year-old Dylan to travel with his family to Florida.
During the last school year, the sorority raised money by working at concession stands at football and basketball games. They organized tailgating parties and also cleaned the Spectrum after basketball games.
“It was great that we could all come together and do this and find time in our busy schedules to do it,” said Shannon Kuwitzky, Chi Omega president. “It was really rewarding to see all our hard work benefit a family in need.
“Every year we try to help make a wish come true. All of us came together and did it together. It was great,” she said.
The sorority’s community service chair, Tabitha Lazenby, said they do service for other children and organizations in the area, but working to actually grant a wish was an eye-opening experience.
“He got to go because of us. Granting his wish was pretty cool,” Lazenby said. “It was really fascinating because we had worked so hard and so long, it was hard to remember and recall why we were doing it, but we sponsored a kid battling a life-threatening disease.”
After raising enough money to grant Dylan’s wish, Lauren Murakami, public relations chair of Chi Omega, said half of the chapter went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation headquarters in Salt Lake City to give the foundation the money.
“There was the most magical feeling. It really is where kids’ dreams come true,” Murakami said. “They were so appreciative. We worked so hard and didn’t see the results immediately. We spent six months working long days and it was really worthwhile to see what all our work went to.”
During their time at the headquarters, the sorority also helped in organizing the foundation’s annual Easter egg hunt for the children and their families.
Chi Omega set up a fishing pond at which the children could fish and receive prizes. Murakami said it was amazing to see the children, their families and to interact with them.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a national organization that works to grant the wishes of children battling life-threatening diseases.
Denise Thielfoldt, special projects manager for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Salt Lake City, said that the foundation is the chosen philanthropic organization of Chi Omega sororities nationwide.
As special projects manager for the foundation, Thielfoldt is in charge of the Kids for Wish Kids Program. She works with fraternities, sororities, schools or organizations that raise money for Make-A-Wish children.
She said it is wonderful for young people to be involved in fundraising for children with serious illnesses and to also make the time to actually meet and personally work with families in need of help.
“Not only do they hold fundraisers, but they interact with families. It is not that we are always out asking for money, money, money. They have been involved. It’s good to see the faces as well,” Thielfoldt said.
Murakami said the sorority wants to grant a wish every year.
“As a sorority, we decided our wish was to grant a wish,” she said.
Lazenby said they have started raising money to reach this year’s goal and have already earned about $400.
-ariek@cc.usu.edu