THE FASCINATING HISTORY AND PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF MAKE-A-WISH AND HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE
The Make-A-Wish Foundation® traces its beginning to one little boy’s wish in April of 1980. All of his life, 7-year-old Christopher James Greicius (pronounced “gracious”) of Phoenix, Arizona dreamed of becoming a police officer. He often drove around his neighborhood on a battery-powered three-wheel motorcycle writing tickets and putting them on unsuspecting cars!
Chris was being treated for leukemia when U.S. Customs Officer Tommy Austin befriended Chris and his mom, Linda Bergendahl-Pauling. With Chris’s health sadly deteriorating, he planned a day to lift his spirits.
On April 29, 1980, Austin and a caring group of Arizona DPS personnel took Chris on a helicopter tour of Phoenix and then flew him to headquarters for a tour. He sat on a patrol motorcycle, “drove” a police car while on an officer’s lap and was given a Smoky Bear hat and a badge. Finally Chris was given a certificate and sworn in as the first honorary DPS patrolman in Arizona history. It was an incredible day for everybody involved.
What happened then was another sequence of events that transpired more by chance than by design. Sergeant Schmidt, Officer Ron Cox and others, realizing that there had never been an honorary DPS patrolman before, contacted John’s Uniforms and the owner and two seamstresses agreed to work through the night on a custom-tailored DPS uniform for Chris. The officers presented it to Chris on May 1st, along with a motorcycle “proficiency test” to earn his wings to pin on his new uniform. Needless to say he passed the test with flying colors on his battery-operated motorcycle.
Two days later Chris passed away, but not before seeing his dream come true and experiencing the hope and profound joy that came from receiving his life-long wish of becoming a police officer.
Chris was buried in Kewanee, Illinois and Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Sergeant Allan Schmidt committed two Arizona officers to make the trip to Illinois to say goodbye to Chris, Scott Dahl and Frank Shankwitz.
It was obvious to everyone who surrounded Chris and his mom Linda during those final days how much the special wish unfolding serendipitously appeared to take away the pain and anguish from both mom and son and replaced them with some relief and light-hearted moments. If this unplanned wish had brought this much joy to Chris and his mom, maybe they could do this for other children. By January 1981, the Greicious Make-a-Wish Memorial, founded by Linda Bergandahl-Pauling, Frank Shankwitz and Scott Stahl received its tax-exempt status as a non-profit organization and began fundraising in earnest. The non-profit memorial later became the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.
On February 4th, 1982, the Dick Pomerantz Show on KSTP-AM in St. Paul called Sergeant Schmidt and aired the show that I heard sitting in my car after a sales call. It forever changed my life along with thousands of others. At that time, Chris Greicius and only nine other wishes had ever been granted. Five months later, immediately following Linda Bergendahl-Pauling telephoning encouragement to all of us in Minnesota on the air, Steve and I, Dick Pomerantz and the Chairperson of Make-A-Wish John Rubel were sitting in KSTP’s studios raising approximately $4,000 for the first wishes through listener’s pledges. Minnesota was the second Make-A-Wish chapter in the world, thanks to Dick Pomerantz’s passionate plea within seconds of Sergeant Schmidt’s’ phone call with him.
Steve and I bicycled back into Minnesota on February 5th, the same day that Minnesota’s fifth wish was being granted to precious little Katie.
Today, 28 years later, the Make-A-Wish Foundation ® of Minnesota has granted over 3,000 special wishes, averaging about 200 wishes a year. As an international organization, the Make-A-Wish Foundation ® has granted 194,190 wishes, now averaging a special wish every 40 minutes. They have 66 chapters in the United States and they are in over 30 countries on five continents, easily the largest wish granting organization in the world.
“It’s been 25 years since my son Chris received his wish, and I am still amazed and inspired how one little boy’s dream to be a policeman has touched the lives of so many people.”
~ Linda Bergandahl-Pauling, mom of Chris Greicius
If you would like to contribute your time or money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Minnesota go to: www.minnesota.wish.org/contribute.html or to find your local chapter anywhere else in the world go to: www.wish.org/help/donate
If you purchase Pedaling on Purpose from me or from this website, I will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, and whenever possible I will donate the money to the chapter nearest to where you live.
Although there are many, many worthwhile groups in the world that need your money, I cannot think of a more worthwhile organization to donate your time or your money. Almost 80 cents of every single dollar goes directly to granting the special wish. Inasmuch as we all continue to pray for cures that help our precious children, unfortunately the need today is endless for finding and helping children with life-threatening medical conditions and their often emotionally and financially devastated families.
Ken Rogers
