Make-A-Wish grants local eight-year old’s wish at 20th annual Martini Shakedown fundraiser
Celebrating 40 years of granting wishes for Mississippi kids, the Make-A-Wish Foundation hosted its 20th annual Martini Shakedown fundraiser at the Beau Rivage Saturday night where they granted one local child’s special wish!
Make-A-Wish Director of Development Shellie Moses said, “People that don’t know these kids that want to make an impact in the lives that never have met these children still care. It’s a lasting impact because they’re able to take the wish fulfillment process and take memories and have lifetime joy out of it.”
A wish can be so simple yet priceless. At the Make-A-Wish Martini Shakedown, the simple gesture of giving back is putting priceless smiles on kids faces to last a lifetime.
Eight-year-old Colbie Price was called to the stage, believed to put on the performance of her life, showing off her dance moves, when surprised by the news she was headed to Hawaii. Her wish is granted with an ongoing bout of HLHS at birth, which causes her left heart structures to be underdeveloped. “Am I actually going to Hawaii or not? I was very excited, nervous. (What’s the first thing you’re going to do?) I’m going to swim with dolphins.”
“It feels like a bright light at the end of a long journey,” Colbie’s parents Jaci and Cordarryl Price said, “It’s definitely not the end, but it’s definitely just something that we can all look forward to. Waking up in the morning in here and dad, mom. That keeps us going, having each other, we are a very tight crew.”
Guests cheered, cried, and applauded Colbie, seeing the amazing work they can accomplish together by sponsoring the foundation. Theresa Mohler knows all too well firsthand as a parent whose daughter Sophie was granted her wish in 2010. “It gave her a sense of normalcy and that’s what she wished for most was to be normal. And for her to get to go to Disney World and she had to have like her labs drawn on her there and Make-A-Wish made sure that that happened.”
“My wish when everybody asked me that is that we never have a make a wish because that means there are no longer any sick kids. But unfortunately, that’s not the reality that we live in. So, for a wish to happen, it means that they’re able to live their imagination, and think about whatever it is that makes them happy.”
“I’ll tell them I love you guys. And if y’all do Make-A-Wish too I hope y’all wish gets granted too.”
Make-A-Wish Mississippi says half the revenue from the fundraiser will go directly to help grant wishes for the upcoming year. Their goal is to grant over 30 wishes in South Mississippi.
