Home Caregivers announces the sale of
CareCandles to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Utah!
The mission at 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.
Fittingly, perhaps, the first Utah wishes involved the snow. Four-year-old Stephanie
lived in Fort Lauderdale. She had bone cancer. Her best friend Alison moved to Park
City, Utah in 1983
told Stephanie all about her new world of ice and mountains. Stephanie wished to
visit Utah to see Alison again and "to taste the snow." That was her wish, the first
wish ever granted in Utah. The next year, a teenager from Iowa, in the end stages
of a life- threatening dystrophy, asked, "Where is there snow in October? I love
the holidays, and I know I won't have another Christmas with my family. We could
celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday and Christmas on Sunday, and my family could
all be together for the holidays again." His wish came true in a cabin in the High
Uintas in 1984. And, yes, there was snow. The simple joy of these two wishes demonstrated
the power of a child's wish and deepened the conviction of Utah observers that this
wonderful opportunity should be available to Utah children, too.
At Hill Air Force Base in 1985, a small group of local volunteers gathered to incorporate
the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Utah. They began operations with a $5,000 start-up
grant from St. Benedict Hospital in Ogden and granted 5 wishes that first year to
Utah children. The first Utah Wish Child, however, wanted to escape the December
snow. She wished for a trip to Hawaii. Debbie was fifteen years old and self-conscious
about the disabilities of her illness. She confided, "I want to walk on the edge
of the ocean, and lay on the beach in the sand, and feel the sun on my skin, but
I want to be in a private place where no one can see me." Donations of airline tickets
from Delta and the donation of a house on a private beach in Maui transported her
out of the snow belt and into the Pacific sun. And Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Utah
was born.
You may order CareCandles online. Please include your contact information and mail a check or money order to: 455 East 400 South, Suite 410 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
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