New USU service club approved
The club was approved Tuesday afternoon by ASUSU officers. The official mission of the club and the Make-A-Wish Foundation is to “grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”
Cameron Brock, the club’s president, said he wanted to start the club because he has seen firsthand the relief Make-A-Wish could bring to people who are suffering.
Brock, a sophomore majoring in biology, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in April 2008 at age 16. The following year, Make-A-Wish provided Brock and his family with a trip to Reno, Nev., where they met the band Journey.
“For me, I think Journey was just kind of the cherry on top, but the best part was to spend a week with my family without having to worry about needles or chemo or doctors’ visits, not worrying about money or anything like that,” Brock said.
Another USU student who has been affected by the Make-A-Wish program is Kim Hanni, a senior in family consumer sciences education. She said her sister had a tumor above her eye and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, another type of bone cancer.
Hanni, like Brock, appreciated the freedom she felt while on vacation with her family.
“The best part about it wasn’t the actual trip to Hawaii,” Hanni said. “It was to not think about the hospital for a week, to not think about what’s wrong with my sister. It was just good to be together and have that time where her cancer wasn’t an issue anymore.”
Hanni said her sister is now in remission, but seeing how much the experience meant to her family made her want to give back, so she began to volunteer.
Karl Folland, an officer for the new club and a sophomore studying mechanical engineering, said he was friends with Brock when he was diagnosed and made his wish. Folland said he started off with a few volunteer projects and decided to become more involved.
“As students, our biggest debate with ourselves is, ‘Do I have enough time to do this?'” Folland said. “But they don’t demand that much of you. You can help with fundraising, actually granting a wish or just participating in activities. A lot of times people don’t volunteer because they don’t know how to, but the club will help with raising awareness of what Make-A-Wish is and how easy it is to get involved.”
Brock said the club will try to team up with other organizations on campus and in the community to fundraise and either completely cover the wish of a child or play a substantial role in it.
“There’s a lot of kids right now just waiting for their wishes to be granted,” Brock said. “Not only do the children benefit from this, but it gives you a chance to forget about yourself. It would be great to get more students involved with that.”
According to Kelly Wolfe, the communication and developmental manager for Make-A-Wish Utah, 142 wishes were granted in Utah last year. She said there are still about 131 children in the state between the ages of 2.5 and 17 this year who are waiting for their wishes to be granted.
“And we typically get referrals for 10 to 12 new wishes a month,” Wolfe said.
She said the average cost of a wish is around $7,500, and $5,000 of that is typically fundraised and sponsored through in-kind donations.
“We need volunteers to make wishes come true,” Wolfe said. “We need all the help we can get. Seeing these smiles radiating on these kids faces, you think, ‘Man, I actually did something.’ It doesn’t have to be big. It can be small, but it does make a difference.”
Folland, Brock and Hanni all volunteer as wish granters for the program. Wish granters are the link between individual families and the Make-A-Wish organization, and two wish granters are needed in order for wishes to be granted.
According to Brock, the volunteers are in charge of three events. First is the declaration, the time when wish granters meet with the child and family to help them decide what their wish will be. Brock said one main focus is to be sure the wish is what the child wants rather than what the family wants.
Second, the volunteers will be in charge of the proclamation. Through this event, the wish granter finds a creative way to let the child know their wish has been granted.
“As a wish granter, you make it special for the wish kid,” Hanni said. “You try and make their wish come alive and do little things here and there that make it more impactful for them.”
The last event is the star-raising ceremony, which gives the family a chance to celebrate and thank family and friends who have supported them.
Brock said he is still close to his wish granter. He said now the two work together to grant wishes for other kids. They attended a star-raising ceremony over the weekend for a 3-year-old who had just gone through the hardest part of chemotherapy.
“We gave an opportunity for the parents to say something, and the dad just broke down and cried,” Brock said. “He just lost his job and they weren’t going to have a Christmas, but now they’re going to Disneyland for it. They’ve never had a family vacation before.”
Brock said it was one of many rewarding experiences he has been a part of since volunteering.
“I feel this program is important because in the world we live in today, it’s hard to find true happiness,” Folland said. “Families are torn apart because of the challenges they face, but with Make-A-Wish, families come together and get a lot stronger.”