Stories of hope, strength and joy.

Fall 2011

I wish to be a game designer, go to Disneyland®, meet My Chemical Romance, have a skateboard . . .

Connect with us online(SFWish)

Featured Wishes:

February 4th, 2012

Wish Report

SFPD ChallengeSanta Plunge and Santa PullThis three part event is truly unique! SFPD’s finest will serve you breakfast or lunch at the famous Buena Vista Café in picturesque Aquatic Park as part of Cops & Coffee starting at 8am. If the coffee hasn’t woken you up sufficiently, there’s always the Plunge in the Bay at 10:05am. A $10 entry fee and donations from friends allows you to find out just exactly how cold the San Francisco Bay is! Or if you really want to prove yourself, you can put your strength to the test against the SFPDin the Cable Car Pull beginning at 10:15am. $30 entry fee per team and team themes are encouraged!

Wine and Wishes

Some of the highest quality restaurants in the world plus wines to rival the best anywhere—this is why we live in the Bay Area and what Wine and Wishes is all about! The night begins with the

Gourmet Food & Wine Tasting and ends with the four-course Winemaker Dinner. Come see what draws over 1,000 people to this event each year!

December 3rd, 2011

Want to know a cool way to be part of a wish? Give us your unused frequent flier miles! If you travel a lot, it can be difficult to use all of your frequent flier miles. On average, 75% of our wishes are for travel, or about 255 wishes annually. Each travel wish also includes bringing the whole family along. All this adds up to a lot of flights and a lot of miles! In fact, The Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation® needs more than 1,000 round trip tickets, which equals between 70 and 120 million donated miles, to grant wishes each year. Every mile donated helps wish kids and their families travel to destinations around the world. Once donated, your miles will never expire and are used to support wishes across the country. This is just one simple way you can help grant a life-changing wish experience. We accept miles from the following carriers and their programs:

A 1,000 mile minimum is required to donate (except for Continental OnePass). If you have air miles with Delta, US Airways, Continental, or United, you hold the ticket to a child’s wishsm.

Wishes in FlightSM

Chase, age 12, Michigan I wish to Be a Game Designer

As we hear from our wish families often, Chase did not sleep a lot the night before his wish. But besides being a little tired, he was very keyed up for his visit to the gaming company Roblox’s headquarters. Says Chase’s dad Jim, “One of the hardest parts about Ewing’s sarcoma was missing school. It was tough. While he was hospitalized, his friends went from elementary school to middle school and he had to start middle school half way through the year. Chase is very involved in math and he really wants to know what the job of game developer/programmer is all about. It will be very enlightening for him to visit Roblox.”

After a warm welcome by the staff, Roblox’s CEO, aka Buildeman in Roblox speak, shook Chase’s hand and personally greeted him. John Shedletsky, the Creative Director, introduced Chase to nearly every employee and described what they do in a way that would be easy for a 12 year old to understand. Then John, aka Telamon, held a white board session with Chase to record what features he would

like to see added to the game, and what bugs he knew about. By now, Chase had lost his initial quietness and was talking in a very animated and energetic way. The next stop was a session with Bright Eyes, one of Roblox’s designers who creates hats for characters to wear. Together they came up with an entirely new hat design: a purple fedora. Chase was thrilled to be the very first person to buy one. Finally, Chase got to do what he loves best: play Roblox. But instead of playing alone, a group of the staff happily played along. As this was going on, Chase’s grandmother, Georgia, leaned over and said “You know this might be a formative moment in his life.” A little later, Chase himself said, “This is like the best day ever!”

Ruben, age 5, VacavilleI wish to Go to Disneyland®

When Ruben was diagnosed with leukemia at age 3, his family was “very overwhelmed by all the medications and appointments he would have to endure at such a young age.” Adding to the stress of his diagnosis and treatment

was the fact that his dad Carlos “had to be in and out of jobs because many of them didn’t understand he had to miss work for our son’s appointments” says Ruben’s mom Nadia. On top of all that, Nadia was pregnant with their second son. The family was struggling financially while taking care of two children and battling leukemia.

Ruben has loved Disney movies and characters from a young age. “We knew that he wanted to go there someday, we just didn’t know how we would ever have the means to do so” says Nadia. “One our fondest memories while at Disneyland® was watching the ‘Remember...Dreams Come True’ fireworks show and hearing our boy yell out “my wish came true! That is something that none of us will ever forget and will always take with us. He is still fighting his battle with this disease but we have faith that he will conquer this just like he conquered the Disneyland® theme parks!”

Kerstan, age 13, San JoseI wish to Meet My Chemical Romance

The circumstances around Kerstan’s birth were challenging under the best conditions. Her grandmother had passed away just a few months earlier, her parents had a six year-old son at home, and neither of them could take much time off of work. On top of all that, Kerstan was born with Pulmonary Atresia, a type of congenital heart disease. At a mere eight days old, Kerstan underwent her first open heart surgery. By the time she had her third open heart surgery at age 3, she was old enough to understand more about it, adding to the anxiety.

Now 13 years old, Kerstan cannot take P.E. at school and has to restrict her physical activity. But she plays guitar and has always loved My Chemical Romance because “they are a good band and they do a lot to help people and they are really nice.” Her wish was to meet the band, especially her favorite member, Frank Iero, because “seeing him playing his guitar made me want to play and be as good as him”.

According to her wish grantor, “All the members made Kerstan feel so special by interacting with her, asking her questions and answering her questions. It was like they knew each other forever already.” These

days, Kerstan and her family are vocal about heart disease and encourage people to support Make-A-Wish. The same is true for the band, whose recent public service announcement featured Kerstan and Make-A-Wish! According to Mickie, Kerstan’s mom, “She can’t stop talking about her wish and how she was able to play the guitar with her favorite band mate Frank. Whenever I see the pictures from that night, I get tears of joy.”

Oliver, age 5, San FranciscoI wish to Have a Skateboard

Just because he suffers from Diamond-Blackfan Anemia, an inherited blood disorder causing bone marrow to produce insufficient red blood cells, doesn’t mean that a five year-old boy like Oliver thinks that should slow him down. When his wish granters interviewed him, they said “he was running across the house and leaping onto his yo baby (toy skateboard) and sliding across the hardwood floor, sometimes falling hard in the process. He is quite the daredevil!”

In fact, Oliver loves doing tricks on his yo baby, and has a skateboarding video game where he has reached “like level 20.” That, and a visit to a San Francisco skate park, inspired his wish for a “skateboard with lots of different colors underneath.”

Oliver gets red blood cell transfusions every three weeks. His family has just relocated to Austin, Texas for his bone marrow transplant. But before they moved, Oliver not only got his wish for a colorful skateboard, but he also got to feel what it’s like to be a real skateboarder, thanks to the friendly staff of DLX Skateboards in San Francisco. They provided Oliver with protective gear to go along with his customized board, a tour of the headquarters, a scavenger hunt and a private skate lesson with the owner.

Macy’s Thanks for SharingMacy’s Thanks For Sharing program continues through December 31st. When you use your Macy’s Card between now and then, you can help grant wishes while accumulating rewards for your purchases! Last year, Macy’s Thanks For Sharing program raised $15 million for national and local charitable causes, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. Learn more at macys.com/thanks or visit your local Macy’s.

Gingerbread WishesThe Lark Creek Restaurant Group will hold their fourth annual Gingerbread Wishes event this holiday season. Throughout the month of November, each restaurant in the Group will offer a star-shaped, fresh-baked and iced gingerbread cookie on their dessert menu for $10, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting our chapter. Designed by One Market Restaurant

Pastry Chef Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, the cookies can be enjoyed in the restaurant or guests can take them home in a gift-wrapped package.

The Group’s participating Bay Area restaurants include:The Tavern at Lark Creek, LarkspurOne Market Restaurant, San FranciscoLark Creek Steak, San FranciscoLark Creek Walnut CreekYankee Pier, Larkspur, Lafayette & Santana Row in San JoseFish Story, NapaCupola Pizzeria, San Francisco

.G

RO TIF

OR

P N

ON

EG

ATS

OP .

S.U

PA

D I A

C ,O

CSI

CN

ARF

NA

S471 .

ON TI

MR

EP

55 H

awth

orne

Str

eet,

Suite

800

Sa

n Fr

anci

sco,

CA

9410

5-39

13ph

one:

415

.982

.947

4 e

mai

l: in

fo@

SFW

ish.

org

ww

w.S

FWis

h.or

g

RET

UR

N S

ERV

ICE

REQ

UES

TED I wish to go . . . to Disneyland®

Leila, age 3