Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties is busy at work this summer granting wishes.
Of the 87 wishes expected to be granted this year, 45 percent will occur during the summer. If all 87 wishes are granted as scheduled, it will be the most wishes in a year in the history of the chapter.
Some of the wishes slated to be granted in the coming weeks include two Santa Barbara recipients, one who wished for a laptop and one to go on a shopping spree.
Many of the summer wishes are for travel, and there is a simple way the community can help. Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties is asking people to donate frequent flier miles to help grant wishes.
Through a special matching grant, the donated miles will be matched up to 1 million miles and will be used to send sick children from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties and their families on wish trips.
Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties still needs 450,000 more miles in the next 45 days to complete its matching miles campaign. Instead of turning in small balances of miles for magazines, passengers can donate miles — a gift that can make a real difference to kids with life-threatening medical conditions.
To donate, click here or call 805.676.9474 x4 by Aug. 31.
Each year the chapter needs 8 million miles but only 1 to 2 million are donated, making airline tickets the most avoidable expense for the small chapter.
Airline miles donors who had their miles match April to June helped with airfare for five summer wishes:
» 375,000 miles — Los Angeles to Paris, June
» 150,00 miles – L.A. to Philadelphia, June
» 200,000 miles – L.A. to Minneapolis, July
» 200,000 miles – L.A. to Ottawa, July
» 250,00 miles – L.A. to Orlando, August
— Shanna Wasson Taylor is the CEO of Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties.