Group donates to Make-A-Wish
Published 8:50 pm Tuesday, December 8, 2015
The Suffolk Business Women continue to follow up their successful first wine festival, held April 25, with donations to the organizations that were earmarked as recipients.
Make-A-Wish Greater Virginia took delivery of a giant check Tuesday, written for $11,500. It was one of four categories of donations from the event, which also included a scholarship, Scouting organizations and the Suffolk and North Suffolk Rotary clubs.
“This will go a long way toward making more than one child’s wish come true,” said Laurie Ursiny of Make-A-Wish Greater Virginia. The average cost of fulfilling a wish is about $9,000, she said.
The Make-A-Wish organization grants wishes to children between 2-½ to 18 years old, Ursiny said. Contrary to popular belief, the children granted wishes do not have to have a terminal illness, but the illness must be life-threatening and malignant, degenerative or progressive as diagnosed by a doctor, Ursiny said.
Wishes fall into four categories: a wish to go somewhere, often Walt Disney World; a wish to be someone for a day, such as a superhero or firefighter; a wish to have something, like a computer or a room makeover; and a wish to meet someone, like a sports figure or celebrity.
Ursiny said the majority of parents report the wish having a profound impact on their children, such as the children having a more positive outlook about their treatment because they have something to look forward to.
“A great majority of our children get past their disease and go on to live full lives,” Ursiny said.
The Suffolk Business Women are rapidly gearing up for the second wine festival, set for April 23, 2016, and looking for sponsors. They also hope to support more organizations with the proceeds this year, said Deb Gayle and Teresa Mullins of Suffolk Business Women.