Every 38 minutes Make-A-Wish® grants the wish of a child diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition in the United States and its territories. We believe that a wish experience can be a game-changer. This one belief guides us in everything we do. It inspires us to grant wishes that change the lives of the kids we serve.
Joe Joe Wishes for a Toy Hauler
(August 20, 2015 – Santa Barbara) Six-year-old Josef “Joe Joe” Stoop of Newbury Park loves traveling, camping and look for bugs! Joe Joe and his brother Dominik, age 4, both live with spinal muscular atrophy and use electric wheelchairs. The have an older sister, Alicia, age 7.
Joe Joe was granted a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties, who grants wishes to kids with life-threatening medical conditions. Joe Joe wished for a “toy hauler” so that he can go see all the national parks with his family. The family had access to a borrowed toy hauler in the past, which made camping and travel possible for their family.
Toy hauler travel trailers are a specific type of travel trailer built to bring along big toys like motorcycles as well as provide a living space. In this family’s case, the cargo area is to bring along two electric wheelchairs for the kids. The rear of the trailer folds down and acts as a ramp to load the wheeled “toys” into the trailer.
On Friday August 21st Joe Joe will visit Barber RV at 6660 Auto Center Dr, Ventura, with his family. He thinks he is going to check on hitches for their truck just in case Make-A-Wish does grant his wish. When he arrives, Joe Joe and his sibling will be surprised to find his Wish Toy Hauler ready and waiting for adventure. Barber RV is providing a discount on the Toy Hauler and is donating provisions. Mike Arrambide, General Manager at Barber RV will be on hand Friday to provide a personal walk through of the Toy Hauler for Joe Joe and his family.
Trusted Choice® is the presenting cash sponsor for Joe Joe’s wish with a gift of $10,000. Since 2011, Trusted Choice® has donated more than $2 million to help grant wishes like Joe Joe’s. “Trusted Choice® is honored to work with Make-A-Wish and our independent insurance agencies across the country to help grant wishes nationwide for children like Joe Joe” says Robert Rusbuldt, Trusted Choice® president and Big “I” president & CEO. “Independent agents are there to instill confidence and hope in their clients and customers, and that’s what Make-A-Wish does for so many children. We are proud to help support them in granting wishes and we look forward to helping to enrich the experiences of these children’s experience with hope, strength and joy.”
Michael Liang of the National Park Service will join the celebration as well. The National Park Service is donating a hardcover picture book about national parks, “passport” books for the kids to collect national park stamps and an annual NPS pass for the family.
ABOUT THE 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. A wish-come-true can have positive impacts on the health of children. Physicians and nurses see the vital role that a positive state of mind plays in a patient’s ability to fight illness, and they see the wish experience as a powerful force to improve the mental and emotional health of wish kids and their families alike.
With a staff of only five and the help of more than 100 volunteers, Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties has granted over 1400 special wishes to children in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. If you want to refer a child to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, call 1-888-899-9474 [WISH]. Donations may be sent to Make-A-Wish at 4222 Market Street, Suite D, Ventura, CA 93003. Airline tickets are one of the most costly and most avoidable expenses for Make-A-Wish.
To donate airline miles go to http://tri-counties.wish.org/ways-to-help/giving/airline-miles
For more information on other ways to help, visit www.tri-counties.wish.org or http://www.facebook.com/MakeAWishTriCounties.
