WELCOME TO YOUR WISH TOOLKIT

The creation of Make-A-Wish® was inspired in the U.S. in 1980 by the fulfilment of a wish of a 7-year-old boy with leukemia named Chris Greicius, who wished to be a policeman. His mother, several friends and a group of police officers, with the cooperation of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, granted his wish with a custom-made uniform, helmet, badge and helicopter ride! After the wish, those involved were inspired and eager to bring that same hope, strength and joy they saw as a result of Chris’ wish, to more children. Their idea has led to the continued growth of the world’s largest wish-granting organization, now operating in over 50 countries.

A wish-come-true helps children with critical illnesses feel stronger, more energetic, more willing and able to battle their conditions. For many of them, it marks a turning point in the fight against their illnesses. For their doctors, nurses and other health professionals, the wish experience works in concert with medicine to make their patients feel better, emotionally and even physically.

The vision of Make-A-Wish is to make every eligible child’s wish come true. The Wish Journey was created to increase the impact of the wishes we grant. The Wish Journey was designed to aid physical and emotional healing through building strong, positive experiences.

When a child wishes to travel or wishes for something another affiliate or chapter can easily achieve through connecting with local contacts, the two affiliates/chapters begin collaborating. This type of collaboration is called a “wish assist.” Wish assists provide benefits to the global organization by utilizing already established local relationships or expertise.

In this toolkit, you will find templates, forms and other documents that support you in the process of the Wish Journey, wish assists and corporate sponsorship programs that directly support wish-granting efforts.

This toolkit is divided in two sections:

WISH JOURNEY

Your guide to the Wish Journey starts here! From the psychological principles to the wish statement, learn about the five phases and access materials for volunteer training.

WISH ASSISTS

The materials, documents, fact sheets and forms developed to optimise and guide the wish assist process, as well as corporate sponsorship programs, can be found in this section.

You will see that some of the documents are in a PDF-version and others in a Word or PowerPoint (editable) version. This way, you can use the editable version to translate or amend it to fit your needs.

Please continue to contribute to our Wish Toolkit by sending us your documents, tips and feedback.