A 35th birthday wish

Make-A-Wish Oklahoma turns 35 this year, and to celebrate its three and a half decades of granting wishes, the foundation is launching the 35-for-35 Campaign to raise awareness and funding for 2017 Wish kids. 

Since its birth in 1982, Make-A-Wish Oklahoma has granted close to 2,800 wishes to Oklahoma children, ages two and a half to 18, who have faced life-threatening illnesses. 

“We have been very blessed to do incredible work for so many Oklahoma families over the past 35 years,” says Kendra Loper, director of development and communications for MAWO. “While we celebrate this anniversary and those accomplishments, we are excited to launch 35-for-35 and make this year the best in Make-A-Wish Oklahoma history.”

The campaign will select 35 individuals, or “champions,” among local Wish kids, families, volunteers, supporters, friends and community partners who will take a pledge to share the Make-A-Wish Oklahoma story and help raise resources for continued wish granting in the coming year. These advocates will build teams, network, and strategize ways to spread word of the 35-for-35 Campaign. Selected individuals will tell MAWO’s story through televised appearances, radio interviews and various print and digital media channels. Word-of-mouth will be crucial to the campaign’s success, so champions will utilize their personal social media pages to encourage additional donations and broaden communication reach. Additionally, champions will be asked to host and attend events in which they promote giving back to the foundation with the purpose of engaging new and lapsed donors. 

Thanks to a generous challenge grant made on behalf of Make-A-Wish America, every new dollar these selected champions raise through the 35th anniversary year will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $175,000, leaving MAWO with a total fundraising goal of $350,000. Even better, every dollar raised through this campaign will remain in Oklahoma to grant the wishes of Oklahoma children. To date, the foundation has raised $19,210, or 5 percent of its total fundraising goal, which the nonprofit hopes to reach by March 2018.

Make-A-Wish Oklahoma accepts individual and monthly donations, as well as donations in the form of airline miles. The nonprofit requires nearly 3-billion airline miles, or 50,000 round-trip tickets, annually to cover every travel wish made on a national level. To make a contribution and find out more about MAWO, visit www.35for35makeawish.com.