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COURIER L 26 IFE, FEB. 22–28, 2019 M BR B G
WALKING THE CARPET: From left, youngsters Delancie, Molly, and
Stephanie were all smiles during the foundation’s 2019 Make-A-Wish Day
event. Photo by Trey Pentecost
$1,500
SAVINGS
BY MAYA HARRISON
Brooklyn is bursting with
wish grantors!
Big-hearted locals from
around the borough helped
a do-good group grant more
wishes of critically ill kiddos
in 2018 than ever before, according
to leaders of the organization,
who cheered the
Kings Countians for their
overwhelming generosity.
“In 2017, we had a severe
problem where we didn’t have
enough grantors for the kids
awaiting wishes,” said Brooklyn
Make-A-Wish Counsel
Chairman Khari Edwards.
“Last year we broke records,
now having more wish granters
than kids waiting for
wishes. It was amazing.”
Edwards joined the leadership
of the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s
local arm about a year
and a half ago. And since then,
the chairman amped up the
chapter’s outreach in the borough,
and relocated the Make-
A-Wish training headquarters
from Manhattan to Borough
Hall — two changes he said resulted
in the program’s recent
success.
“Many think that the
Make-A-Wish Foundation is a
distant, multi-million-dollar,
non-profi t organization,” Edwards
said. “My call to action
was to educate Brooklyn that
it’s an organization that anyone
can jump right into and
get their hands dirty to make
a tangible impact.”
The Brooklynites who
helped make the impossible
possible — whom the foundation
calls “wish granters” —
did so in two ways, with some
donating cash to pay for the
requests, and others volunteering
time to help make the
dreams a reality by assisting
kids with fi ling the required
paperwork to request wishes,
and then planning out the
elaborate schemes using funds
from the foundation.
Many locals gave up their
weekends in order to grant the
2018 wishes — which spanned
a wide variety of interests, including
visits to Disney World,
and going on a glamorous
shopping spree, according to
Edwards.
“This borough is home,
and when you challenge folks
in Brooklyn to improve the
community, they will follow
through,” he said. “There is
nothing like seeing the joy of
a kid’s smile when you give
them the opportunity to make
a wish. We had folks asking
to sign up from almost every
neighborhood in Brooklyn,
which has never been seen before.”
The chairman aspires to
even further increase the
number of Brooklyn granters
over the next year, while continuing
to highlight the impact
that Make-A-Wish has on
sick local youngsters, he said.
“Think about someone who
doesn’t know if they are going
to see tomorrow,” Edwards
said. “Now think about giving
them the opportunity to smile
— that will only take a few
hours out of your life.”
Edwards and other Make-AWish
leaders recently toasted
those locals who helped the
youngsters’ dreams come true
at Downtown’s City Point shopping
center during the foundation’s
third-annual Make-AWish
Day bash on Jan. 24, the
date Borough President Adams
dubbed “Brooklyn Make-
A-Wish Day” back in 2017.
Benevolent Kings
Bklyn Make-A-Wish chapter grants record number
of requests with help from big-hearted residents
GRANTING WISHES: Brooklyn
Make-A-Wish Counsel Chairman
Khari Edwards said that increased
outreach and relocating his operation
to Borough Hall helped make
2018 the program’s most successful
year yet. Photo by Trey Pentecost