600 Friends and Neighbors Turn Out to Raise Money for Make-A-Wish
(Long Island, NY) On Sunday, September 13, 2015, more than 600 community members, wish families and supporters gathered in Eisenhower Park in East Meadow for the 2nd annual 5K Walk For Wishes®benefiting Make-A-Wish Metro New York.
Walk for Wishes Planning Committee Members. Photo Credit: Terry Diamond Photography.
With checks still coming in, Walk For Wishes® 2015 raised $119, 000 to make wishes come true for local children battling life-threatening medical conditions.
The top fundraising team among the 70+ that participated was Day & Nite Family of Companies, headquartered in New Hyde Park, who raised over $9,700. Steps for Sisters, a family team helmed by wish kids and sisters Maddy, Frankie and Kate, raised over $8,000 and fielded the biggest team, with over 100 walkers.
(L to R): Walk for Wishes Committee Chair Domenique Camacho Moran, Partner, Farrell Fritz, P.C., Committee Member Gina LoBello, Assistant Vice President, Communication & Marketing, Northshore/LIJ, Wish Kid Gillian, Pat Clemency, President & CEO, Make-A-Wish Metro New York and Western New York Photo Credit: Terry Diamond Photography.
“This has been such an inspiring, joyful day,” shared Pat Clemency, President and CEO Make-A-Wish Metro New York and Western New York. “This event is so special because it allows our community to come together and help grant wishes that allow a child to imagine a world beyond hospitals and treatments.”
Wish kids gather just before the walk begins. Photo Credit: Terry Diamond Photography.
Participants enjoyed a pre-walk Zumba warm-up, snacks, music, face painters, two bouncy houses for the kids, and more. More than a dozen wish kids and families, past and present, were on hand to lend their support and help raise money for future wishes.
The event planning committee was headed by Long Island local and Make-A-Wish Metro New York Advisory Board member Domenique Camacho Moran, Partner, Farrell Fritz, P.C., whose efforts, connections, and expertise contributed greatly to the overall success.
Wish kid Sean leading the way as the walk begins. Photo Credit: Terry Diamond Photography.
Local sponsors included Farrell Fritz Attorneys, North Shore LIJ Medical Group/Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center, Atria Senior Living, Bagel Boss, FLM Graphics, Flushing Bank, PM Pediatrics, Splashes of Hope, Kaufman Dolowich Voluck, AQUAhydrate, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Rivkin Radler, Denise Vanga – Certified Personal Trainer and Voya Financial.
About Make-A-Wish
Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Make-A-Wish® Metro New York and Western New York has to date fulfilled the wishes of more than 12,000 children, more than 10,000 of them residing in the Metro New York area. The chapter serves 23 counties in New York State. In Fiscal Year 2015, the chapter touched the lives of 876 wish children and their families by granting 617 wishes of local children and by facilitating 259 wish assists for children who reside in other areas, but whose wishes took place in New York. This makes Metro New York and Western New York one of the most active chapters in the national network of 61 Make-A-Wish chapters across the country. The chapter received the highest rating – 4 Stars – from Charity Navigator in April of 2015. For more information, please visit www.metrony.wish.org or www.wny.wish.org.
