In the past year, Make-A-Wish USVI has raised enough money to grant 16 wishes for local children battling life-threatening diseases. This year the organization will continue its efforts with the $25,000 brought in this weekend from its annual Walk for Wishes 5K event.
Nagesh Tammara, Walk for Wishes organizer and chairman of the local Make-A-Wish Council, said the walk takes about six months to plan, and includes gathering “innumerable” sponsors that do everything from donate to volunteer on the course, which takes participants from Yacht Haven Grande, through downtown St. Thomas and back.
The Virgin Islands falls under the auspices of Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, but all funds raised in the territory are able to stay and benefit local children. Tammara said that over the past four years the group has granted 55 wishes and is grateful to have surpassed the $15,000 it raised from last year’s event.
“We don’t ever have a numbers goal,” Tammara said Saturday, when asked how much the organization hopes to raise. “Our only real goal is to get people out here to learn more about Make-A-Wish, which has only been existence here in the Virgin Islands for four years. But every year, we get bigger, so we are getting more known on the island, and we really want to thank the community. It’s a real honor for everyone to get behind this organization.”
By Friday night, approximately 450 people had pre-registered for the event, and by the looks of things Saturday, it appeared that hundreds more had come out in support. Tammara said that the goal was to bring out 700 people, and it seemed that the organization had either met or surpassed that number.
Among the supporters cheering from the sidelines was seven year-old D’Lany Harrigan, who last year received his wish, flying to Disney World. Harrigan was diagnosed at the age of one with sickle-cell anemia, which his mother Janna Harrigan said has kept the family on a tight budget.
“What this organization does is so important,” she said Saturday. “There is so much that families in this position have to pay for, and while you would like to make things happen, there are other priorities, like treatment or hospital visits, that come first. But then, something like this happens and the first thing you notice is how big your child’s smile is when they hear they’re getting what they wanted. It’s such a relief, and it’s the most wonderful sight in the whole world.”
