Anita and I get asked what's going on with Winter Wishes all the time. It's a question that brings instant joy and terror all at the same time. We've decided to blog about Winter Wishes this year because there's so much emotion, so many back stories, and so much joy that can be spread with the program if people have the opportunity to see the bigger picture.
Where to start: this blog will often be raw emotion by whoever is posting. Please don't judge us for grammatical or typographical errors. This is a way for us to have a record of what goes on with Winter Wishes. We started the program last year with no vision. Our kids made wishes and the adults raised money. The program took on a life of its own. Because of the generosity of our community and a whole lot of divine intervention over 700 wishes were granted. This blog will be a way to tell the stories of our kids. They make the wishes and they do an incredible job because they know needs and they know kindness and they know whose day to brighten. They are the holders and writers of the stories. The adults involved in this, we just kind of facilitate where we can. We raise the money and we pray that God will place the right kids and the right wishes on our hearts so that we can make things happen. Know that no adult involved in Winter Wishes believes the program belongs to us.
Because of the success of last year's program people often say "I can't wait to see what Winter Wishes does this year." Anita and I always answer it all depends on what the kids wish. Our kids have written their wishes. We are in the process of wading through them all and teachers are in the process of trying to put them in an order. We've given each grade level a budget based on the money we have raised so far and they are choosing what to do with that budget.
Two weeks ago 7th grade reading teacher Rachel Ezell noticed a trend with some wishes. Several 7th grade boys had wished for their special needs teammate to score a touchdown at the final football game. Fortunately we had about 10 days to see what we could do. Rachel got to work contacting coaches. She reached out to a former employee of EMS who happens to now teach at the school where the opposing team was coming from. Wouldn't you know it that teacher teaches across the hall from the coach. Things often happen this way for Winter Wishes, the pieces just fall into place. I know where that comes from. Anyway I just "happened" to get an email from a local news reporter asking me to let him know of wishes this year that he could come out for because he really enjoyed the ones he came out for last year. So we let him in on this football wish and we let in a local newspaper reporter too. Those two guys do an incredible job of telling our story so we really appreciate them every time they show up.
So if we could pull it off this football wish would be the first wish of Winter Wishes 2017. A bunch of faculty members showed up at the game. We were nervous. Did the kids know what to do? Did the refs? Did the opposing team remember? We waited and waited for the clock to run down since the wish was supposed to happen right at the end of the game. We all got in position for photos and videos and the coach had the boys in the huddle and they lined up and gave Greg the ball and he ran and he scored and the crowd went wild. It was magical but the best part was those boys who rushed Greg and congratulated him and loved him. There was kindness and love on that field. They had one last team meeting in the end zone then Greg was given a special game ball signed by all the players. Then the interviews started and the other boys stood there and watched so happy for Greg. It's moments like this that we see kids at their best. In the hallways and classrooms we don't always see kindness but something about Winter Wishes truly does bring out the greatness in our kids.
I'm posting one of my favorite photos from the night. Greg is happy, the reporter is happy, and Sully (one of the boys that made the wish) is so happy too.
Something else I love about Winter Wishes is how it spreads joy to others. The Channel 7 reporter told us it was the greatest story he's ever covered. Knowing our kids shared joy with him, well using Greg's words "It's Awesome".
Here's the link to the Channel 7 story http://www.kswo.com/story/36621443/elgin-player-scores-inspiring-touchdown
