WALK FOR WISHES
Sixth annual Make-A-Wish event at Bruno Stadium raises more than $110K
TROY, N.Y. >> Thousands of people came out to walk for wishes on Saturday morning.
The sixth annual MakeA-Wish Northeast New York Walk for Wishes was held at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. The walk brought together families and community members helping to raise more than $110,000, which will go toward making an additional 10-15 wishes come true.
The walk helps support kids like Logan Hazen, 11, of Saratoga, who was walking with her dad.
“Make-A-Wish made my wish come true. I wanted to go to Hawaii and I went in February. It was really fun, I got to swim with dolphins,” Logan said of her trip.
Logan also noted how great it was to see so many people out walking at the event.
“It’s really cool, just knowing how many people actually made a wish is really cool, knowing that they can make all of these wishes come true,” Logan said.
For Patty Buffaline and her son Patrick, 9, of Troy, Make-A-Wish and the walk is truly a family affair.
“It helps other families be able to experience the support and we call it the love of Make-A-Wish, because the wish is a great thing but you become part of the family and you get the support for the rest of life, if you choose to, they’re there for you. Events like this help other kids experience it,” Buffaline said.
Buffaline also emphasized the importance of being able to give back.
“Patrick has had four open-heart surgeries, his
last one was five and a half years ago. So, that’s how we became involved and we chose to give back because they gave so much to him that we want to make sure other kids get that experience,” Buffaline added.
This marks the fifth year the two have participated in the walk and Patrick is already looking forward to next year.
“Oh, he loves it. As soon as the walk is over he waits to find out when it is next year. We actually plan out our summer vacation around the walk,” Buffaline said.
Make-A-Wish Northeast New York CEO Bill Trigg was equally thankful for the community turnout and support.
“This is our sixth annual Walk for Wishes, which is our signature fundraising event across the Make-A-Wish enterprise across the United States. The event is intended to really celebrate our mission of granting the wishes of children with critical illnesses who live within our 15-county region, to give them hope, strength and joy through their wish experience,” Trigg said of the purpose of the event.
“What’s important about this event is that unlike a lot of our fundraisers, this is really a community fundraiser,” Trigg added. “We’re working in partnership with organizations and businesses like the Tri-City Valley Cats, Upstate Chevy Dealers Association is a representing sponsor, Cap Com Federal Credit Union and other companies involved in supporting the event. What’s really important in addition to the business community we also have members of the medical community who participate.
“We also have a lot of wish families that participate in this event and they bring additional people involved from their neighborhoods and schools and church communities, so it really is a community-wide event.”
Trigg also spoke to the mission of the organization and the important impact a wish can make.
“Not only to help raise awareness of our mission but to help us to dispel the misunderstanding that we grant wishes only for dire terminally ill kids, which is not true. More than 80 percent of the children that we have served in our 32 years are still alive and well today, we’ve granted well over 1,875 wishes, so that’s a significant number of kids that are still alive and well today,” Trigg said of the kids continuing to thrive.
“You saw one of them earlier who sang the national anthem, had his wish granted back in 2004, he’s now a teenager and is almost a young adult and doing extremely well. He and a lot of our other wish kids are a perfect example of what the power of a wish can do, the healing power of a wish,” Trigg noted.
The organization helps grant wishes to kids between the ages of two and a half to 18-years-old. Trigg urged those who may qualify to reach out by phone and encouraged those looking to help with volunteer and fundraising efforts by visiting their website at www.neny.wish.org.