2014 Walk for Wishes Helps Even More Children

Castle Park, normally a place for miniature golf and video games, was transformed into a completely new environment of support and friendship for the 2014 Walk for Wishes on Saturday, April 12th. Over 400 people attended to walk a course that wound through Castle Park to support the Make-A-Wish foundation; a wonderful foundation that mainly focuses on hosting local fundraisers in the Orange County and Inland Empire area to help children ages 2 to 18 with medical conditions that have placed the child’s life in jeopardy. The Make-A-Wish foundation was started in November 1980 thanks to Chris Greicius. At the time, Greicius was 7 years old and had been diagnosed with leukemia. Wanting to become a police officer, the Arizona Department of Public Safety helped him achieve his goal early by riding in a patrol car and receiving a custom uniform. Greicius, wanting to help other children with serious ailments, started the foundation. The Make-A-Wish foundation holds different fundraising events, primarily walks like the one at Castle Park and online donations, to help raise money. On Saturday, the foundation raised over $55,000! Once money is raised, the foundation will choose as many kids as possible to help them achieve their wishes. The walk on Saturday started at 8:30 a.m. sharp. Different stations were set up all around the parking lot for people to go to and interact with. One station, for example, was focused on the idea of camping and traveling, and participants that approached the table were given the option to create luggage tags to take home. Another station had the Batmobile and even Batman there in the flesh. People started walking through a pre-designed course at 9:30 a.m. that winded through and around the park. There were others on the outside of the course there to encourage everyone walking and help raise spirits even higher than they already were. The children being honored by the foundation were also given special attention to and could be easily identified by their blue, star balloons that they carried with them. After the walk, the celebration and festivities continued with the tables and vendors such as Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour and Hansen’s Natural. Castle Park also offered participants free tickets for the day. Saturday’s walk was in special reunion of current and former wish children and families, such as for Travis Clark from Alta Loma who sadly passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 12. His father, Barry continues to go to events and support the foundation. In addition, Aryam Baca of Fontana who was diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), was presented with a Hawaiian-themed gift basket. At only 5 years old, Baca said she had only wished that she and her family could experience real-life dolphins in Hawaii. The event concluded with different speakers such as Stephanie McCormick, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire, who said “The community support was truly felt today, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who came out to the walk.”