Make-A-Wish Foundation sports strong Las Cruces Ambassadors

The national Make-A-Wish Foundation celebrates its 40^th anniversary April 29 with a strong New Mexico chapter and a relatively new but very engaged local presence called the Las Cruces Ambassadors.

The organization grants wishes to critically ill children (Wish Kids), including more than 100 a year in New Mexico and about a dozen annually in Doña Ana County.

Shortly before retiring as NMSU provost in 2018, Dan Howard joined the board of Make-A-Wish New Mexico (MAWNM), and shortly after that, the Las Cruces Ambassadors was created.

“I wanted to give back a little bit in retirement,” Howard said. “I got together with a group of people who felt the same as I did, that this was a good organization and good for the community.”

Howard said the Ambassadors include Christine Woods, Pam Doyle, Andrea Tawney, Jan Moorehead, Roseann Bensley, Brigitte Salopek, newest member Christy Buchanan and Dana Jorgensen, who is no longer an Ambassador but still very active in granting wishes. He also recognized The Hood owner Richard Parra, who hosted a MAWNM fundraiser earlier this year. Parra is “not an ambassador,” Howard said. “He is simply a saint.”

“We’re all volunteers for Make-A-Wish,” Howard said. “We meet with families and children and do what we can to expedite wishes. There’s an awful lot of hopefulness and joy associated with this,” he said. “It gives the family and the children something to focus on besides the illness.”

Wish Kids “have better outcomes if they have a wish granted,” Howard said. “They have fewer visits to the doctor’s office, and therapy seems to work better (because) the optimism that comes from a wish helps the kids. We know from going back and talking to these kids years later how much of an impact that wish had.”

It often comes as a surprise to people that while all Wish Kids are critically ill, two-thirds of them survive, Howard said. And being critically ill is the only qualification, he said, along with a referral from a medical professional.

Howard particularly remembers two local Wish Kids he’s helped grant wishes for. A girl with cystic fibrosis had just graduated from high school and wanted to go to Venice. The trip included her parents and brother. The family “made a video of that trip that just broke your heart it was so gorgeous, so joyful,” Howard said.

A boy in Vado wanted a gaming system, so a TV and game console were installed in his bedroom. And, Howard reached out to the contractor who had painted his house and asked if he would paint the boy’s room in Denver Broncos colors. He and other painters donated their time, and the entire room was prepared one day when the boy, who has cancer, wasn’t home.

“We surprised him,” Howard said. “It was a really lovely thing to be involved with.”

Both these Wish Kids are “alive and doing well,” he said.
“Dan has been a total godsend for our organization,” said MAWNM President and CEO Sara Lister. “Dan created a presence down in the Las Cruces area. He used his contacts to put together people who are passionate about the mission. That group of folks put their heart and soul into Make-A-Wish,” said Lister, who joined MAWNM about the same time Howard did.

Lister said the national Make-A-Wish Foundation started in Phoenix, when Chris, a little boy with cancer, wished he could be a police officer. The boy got a uniform, was sworn in and got to ride in a police car and a helicopter. Chris didn’t survive his illness, but his mother decided more kids like him should have their wishes granted, and the organization was born.

It began serving only terminally ill children, Lister said, but that soon changed. Some Wish Kids don’t survive, she said, but many “go on to live full, happy, healthy lives; they go into remission or they learn how to manage their disease for the rest of their lives.”

“We have heard from doctors and parents,” Lister said. “They really see a change in kids when they’re going through the Wish Kid class. After the wish, that hope is still there; their whole life isn’t just about their diagnosis anymore. We really feel like Make-A-Wish is part of the child’s medical journey. We want to be there to help them create memories that they can hold onto. They think about just being a family, not about appointments or hospital stays. It’s extremely difficult … when we lose a Wish Child, but we feel greatly honored to be a part of their legacy,” she said.

In addition to monetary donations, Lister said MAWNM welcomes in-kind donations. Since the chapter never knows what a child might wish for, she keeps a list of people offering all sorts of in-kind services, like Howard’s painters.

Lister said MAWNM never turns a child away, but it is having to postpone wishes right now because of COVID-19.

The first wish Lister was involved in granting was for a young girl who wanted to meet gymnast Gabby Douglas. “It was just fun,” Lister said. “I felt like I was 12 years old again. We fall in love with every kid and every wish.”
Lister’s wish? She wants to meet Queen Elizabeth.

For more information, contact Lister at 505-888-9474 and slister@newmexico.wish.org. Visit https://newmexico.wish.org/.