Bilingual Volunteers Needed to Grant Wishes with Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic

Chances are, you are familiar with the mission behind Make-A-Wish® Mid-Atlantic’s work. Serving children who reside in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Central and Southern Delaware since 1983, Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic has granted the wishes of more than 8,800 children fighting illnesses such as cancer, pediatric AIDS, cystic fibrosis, Duchene’s muscular dystrophy and heart disease.

However you might be surprised to learn that all of Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic’s wishes are granted by trained volunteers who assume the role of a Wish Granter.

Wish Granters work together with Make-A-Wish staff to serve as a liaison between wish kids and office staff. Working in teams of two, volunteers meet with the family to determine the child’s one true wish. They then work with the office to coordinate logistics and special touches to ensure each child’s wish is uniquely tailored to suit their special likes and interests. Because all children served by Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic are local to the Maryland, DC, Northern Virginia and Central and Southern Delaware region, volunteering as a Wish Granter is a great way for local people to give back to their local community. These special volunteers enable us to grant hundreds of local wishes each year, but currently, for each wish granted, two more wishes are waiting.

Bilingual Volunteers Needed to Grant Wishes of Spanish-speaking Families

Because of the wide territory Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic’s chapter serves, we are desperately in need of bilingual, Spanish-speaking volunteers. While we find many Spanish-speaking families are referred to our organization, due to low counts of bilingual volunteers, many of our Spanish-speaking families do not make it through the entire wish process. In fact, during our last fiscal year, we’ve seen a 31% increase in the number of Spanish-speaking children referred to our organization, but due to a low number of bilingual volunteers, these families often have to wait in our pipeline while we recruit and train volunteers to serve them.

How Individuals and Employers Can Help Through Volunteerism:

In addition to highlighting our need for Spanish-speaking volunteers on social media and in print and e-newsletters, Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic has begun attending community fairs, meetings with local groups and explored other outreach ideas to share this need with our community. With a current wish pipeline of over 600 local children who are waiting for a wish, we need the community’s help now more than ever to join us as volunteers and work to grant the wish of all eligible children.

While our challenge of granting the wish of every local, eligible child remains, for those individuals who are Spanish-speaking, we encourage you to visit our website to learn more about volunteering with us. Bilingual volunteers truly do hold the ticket to a child’s wish, and with an ever-increasing pipeline, now is a great time to get involved as a volunteer!

Get Started Now

1. Individuals: visit midatlantic.wish.org to learn more and sign-up.
2. Employers: Encourage employees to volunteer with Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic and support their work through a well-designed corporate philanthropy program designed to help Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic and accomplish your organization’s CSR goals. As Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic’s workplace giving partner, America’s Charities can help you design and implement a program centered on supporting their work – through workplace giving campaigns, employee fundraising, cause-focused signature programs, volunteerism, Dollars-for-Doers, In-Kind Giving and other employee engagement and philanthropic initiatives. Click here to get started and request a demo.
3. Donate: Another great way to support Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic’s work and help fulfill kids’ wishes is to donate.  Click here to make a donation via credit card now, or make a tax deductible gift via payroll deduction through your employer’s workplace giving program.

Example employee volunteer campaign featuring Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic using America’s Charities powered by Causecast solution: