A new club has emerged to make wishes come true.
The Make-A-Wish Club works to spread awareness about the ways that children battling terminal illnesses can be supported.
Sophomores Mia Jones, Ishara Bhimani and Astrid Young co-founded the Make-A-Wish Club this year. Partnering with the Make-A-Wish foundation, they created their own fundraising group and web page. The three presidents, along with vice president and sophomore Lily Ostrowski, meet during X-block every week with their club members and plan for next steps in fundraising.
The Make-A-Wish foundation strives to help terminally ill children. By raising money, they grant many of these children a “wish” of their choice and spread awareness about life with terminal illness through the process.
Jones, Bhimani and Young were inspired by this work. Young said she felt touched by all the possibilities of joy this foundation could bring for children.
“On the website, you can watch all these really inspiring videos and everything about their mission. It’s really inspiring to see all these kids and their families,” Young said.
Bhimani said she felt the topic of terminally ill children needed more representation in Brookline, especially within the high school. This is a part of what has prompted her to spread the word through the new club.
“We noticed that there weren’t any clubs that were centered around terminal illness and especially children that are suffering,” Bhimani said. “We thought that is something that is important to know about and to spread awareness about, because it’s not always taught. Honestly, I feel like not a lot of people know the true severity of it.”
The club has set a goal of raising at least $12,000—the average cost of one wish—by 2027, which they are currently on track to do. Ostrowski said they have already successfully completed two fundraisers: one at the William H. Lincoln School for their Pumpkinfest event and one bake sale at the high school.
“The bake sale was nice, because we got to see other people from BHS and talk to them and see friends, and we raised a lot of money off of that. And it was nice doing Pumpkinfest, because I felt like it spread more awareness to the rest of Brookline and to other schools,” Ostrowksi said.
These types of fundraisers can require a lot of preparation. However, in their meetings, Jones said they ensure each person has a distinct role to properly develop their plans.
“We have focus groups that we split into whenever we need to get something done. That way, we have certain people interested in certain things doing those things,” Jones said.
Ostrowski said she finds the club’s work especially meaningful because of its impact on young children with illnesses.
“I think it’s really important because I myself have had past medical issues so helping other people who may have medical issues that are even more severe to me is kind of really close to my heart,” Ostrowski said. “I feel like just doing a good cause and helping kids with the terminal cause is just making them feel happy. That just brightens my day, I would say.”
