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

Gypsy is a brave young girl from Co. Longford living with Cystic Fibrosis. Her special wish was to have some place to play with her friends and pamper her dogs and somewhere to call her own. When the Make-A-Wish volunteers visited Gypsy it became very clear that Gypsy really wished for a Garden Den.

The Make-A-Wish team set about making this happen with the help of the local community and local companies.Read More

Cannonball Run

Make-A-Wish is delighted to be chosen as Charity of the Year for the 2014 Cannonball Run. Cannonball is the largest organised road trip in Europe and the most exciting motoring event of the year. Approximately 160 cars including Masseratti, Porsche and Lamborghinis will blaze a trail through  the towns and counties in spectacular style.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to line the streets to see these amazing cars.

Volunteers are needed to assist us on this 3 day event from 12-14^th September at a number of locations nationwide (Dublin City Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon, Sligo City, Mayo City, Galway City, Cahir & Tullamore).

Walk4kmWishes

Make-A-Wish staff have organised a 4km walk around Sandyford Industrial Estate on 25^th July at 1pm. The walk starts from Woodies car park, Marino Road,Sandyford - Registration is €4 and all proceeds go to Make-A-Wish.All participants will get a 10% discount from the Food Markets at the finish on Carmanhall Road.

Make-A-Wish is calling on the ladies of Cork to help them raise money to grant wishes by running the Cork Women’s Mini Marathon and choosing to fundraise for Make-A-Wish.The event will take place on Sunday 28^th September 2014 @ 1pm, entry fee: €12.
To register go to: www.eveningecho.ie/minimarathon 

We are delighted to announce that the Royal Marine Hotel have partnered with Make-A-Wish to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.
http://bit.ly/1nZsUJp 

Congratulations to AON Dublin Staff who showed us how to put the fun into fundraising for wishes and build tremendous team spirit with a range of activities on their Global Service Day. 

Some of the things they got up to on the day included:

• Dress down to donate

• A cake sale

• Breakfast sausage toastie.

• Lunch time 5km walk.

But the activity that raised the eyebrows had to be the three brave men who dared to bare all for Make- A-Wish and got their hairy legs waxed in front of all their colleagues.
A big thank you to everyone involved.

We love summer time - it's great for barbecues and relaxing, for hanging out with friends and enjoying the school holidays.

It's also our busiest time for wishes!

If you have some free time this summer, you could help us to grant wishes by holding a simple fundraiser for us.

• Pick a busy day at your local supermarket and have a bag pack.

• Have a fundraising BBQ for friends in your garden.

• For a special occasion, ask for donations instead of gifts.

• We have beautiful wedding favour cards, for your big day.

• Coffee mornings are an easy, fun way to raise money for wishes.

Please give me a call on 01 205 2012 or email martina@makeawish.ie for more information.