Dear Friends,

I hope you are enjoying the fantastic weather we are experiencing. It is amazing how a little bit of sunshine can put everyone in such great form.

I would like to welcome all our new volunteers on to the team and wish to thank you all for your continued commitment.  I would also like to mention that Mark Wade has joined the staff of Make-A-Wish as our Special Projects Coordinator. I am sure he will be in touch with you all in relation to the Cannonball Run taking place this September.  We are delighted to confirm that Dermot Hickey is now looking after the volunteering side of things and I know he has been in touch with most of you by now. Dermot and Mark have a huge knowledge of Make-A-Wish and we are thrilled to have them on the team.  We were sorry to lose Fergal O’Sullivan last month but wish him well in his new permanent role as CEO of Boardmatch.

We have had two very successful big events in the first half of the year – Wish Band Day and the Crystal Ball. Thank you so much for all your support of these events. Wish Band Day is proving to be a successful event with an increase in income of 49% on the first year. Next year’s date has been booked (Friday 17^th April) and we do hope that you will be able to help again in 2015.

As you are all aware we managed to grant 210 wishes last year – the largest number of wishes ever granted in Ireland and it helped to reduce our waiting list quite significantly. This year we have a target of granting 150 wishes.

 There is loads of interesting pieces of information throughout this newsletter so please do take the time to read through and don’t hesitate to come back to any of us with any questions.

Remember, it is people like you who make these magical wishes come true.

Regards,

Chief Executive