July 2007 - Make-A

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Make-A-Wish Foundation
of New Mexico
July 2007
Wishing for Fishes
or Fishing for Wishes?
Mission:
The Make-A-Wish
Foundation of New
A convoy of hundreds of pickup trucks pulling
boats on trailers gathers at Lake O.H. Ivie just
out side of Ballinger, Texas in April each year.
Over six hundred fishermen from Texas, New
Mexico, Colorado, California and beyond participate in an absolutely wonderful event—the
Permian Basin Oilman’s Bass Invitational. At
this, their 13th annual P.B.O.B.I., the group
celebrated raising an accumulative one million
dollars for the West Texas and New Mexico
Make-A-Wish Foundation Chapters!
Each morning of the tournament, the fishermen
race off in their high-powered speedboats to
Mexico grants the fondest
wish of a child who has
reached the age of 2 1⁄2
and is under 18 who has a
life-threatening illness
or condition.
special and sometimes secretive spots. In the
afternoon, they bring their three largest bass to
the marina where volunteers weigh, measure
and record the day’s catch. All fish are released
back to the lake to swim and hopefully get
weighed another day. In the evenings, the hungry fishermen gather at the Community Center
in Ballinger for much-deserved meals—a fish
fry on Friday and barbeque on Saturday. The
unbelievable cooks and food service volunteers
pride themselves in feeding 600 people in under
an hour with little or no leftovers.
The evening wouldn’t be complete without the
raffle ticket give-aways. On Friday evening,
P.B.O.B.I. gave away two hundred graphite fishing rods, which made the room look like some
kind of nautical political convention. In addition, all sorts of donated reels, gift certificates,
camping and fishing gear are presented to lucky
fishermen.
The highlight of Saturday evening is the give
away of the coveted “Mule” (the four wheeler
kind) and trailer, and the grand prize Triton X2
bass boat
with an
Evenrude
outboard
motor.
JordanAnn
Garza, a
wish child
from West
Texas, presided over
this year’s
activities.
JordanAnn has
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BOARD OFFICERS
Wishing for Fishes or Fishing for Wishes?
Chairman of the Board
Christopher Muirhead
Vice Chairman of the Board
/VP Resource Development
Ray Strom
Treasurer
Katrina Lucero
seizures, severe migraines, and bone and joint
pain. Through it all JordanAnn describes
herself as, “A 3-foot 1-inch tall 9-year-old girl
full of spitfire.” She enjoys shopping, talking
Secretary
Terry Shirrod
VP Wish-Granting
Sue Foster-Cox
VP Volunteers
Waylon Gentry
princess of the tournament. When she spoke,
she had 600 big tough guys wrapped around
her little fingers.
P.B.O.B.I.’s growth has made it a year-round
process for the hard working Board of Directors lead by Jerry Cox. Gary Langford, Gail
Riggan, Tim Riggan, Mike Mundy, Mike “Stubby” Arnold, Dale Welch, Jolene Stephenson and
Connie Calobreves join Jerry on the Board.
They lead the effort on overall coordination,
sponsorships, merchandise purchase and
VP Nominating
Samantha Bousliman
on the phone and watching her brother play
soccer. Her wish was to go to Disney World.
During her trip, she flew on an airplane for the
first time and met the princesses Snow White,
Cinderella and Belle. She was absolutely the
VP Events
Linda Porter
VP PR & Media
Sandy Harrington
Rachael Kefauver
Julie Harrington, MD
Jacob Black
ADVISORY BOARD
sales, and lots and lots of food for the event.
Pastor Tony Ramirez
Legacy Church
Stephanie Montoya
NM Bank and Trust
As with most major events, the Board and
volunteers are so busy they don’t really get to
spend time with the kids. So, the board created
Ron Schranz
Burt & Nagel CPA’s
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Stephen Griego
Distribution Management Corporation
Bob Bigler
MAWFA
AREA COORDINATORS
Trinka Dee Stafford
Carlsbad
Sponsor a Wish…
Become a Wish Angel!
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Here is a sampling of currently unsponsored wishes for our chapter.
If you are interested in becoming a Wish Angel, please contact the
MAWFNM office at (505) 888-9474
Lori & Chris Candelaria
Farmington
Joanne & Rich Ferrary
Las Cruces
Grace S (3)
Hazel Guinn & Melissa Ward
Clovis
Matt W (12)
Melissa P (17)
Orlando C (17)
Staff
President/CEO –Bob Biggers
Wish Manager –Andrea Hill
Volunteer Manager – Allison
Hendricks
Finance/Office Manager – Mary
Williams
Deborah D (15)
Sage K (5)
Denisha Q (12)
– Albuquerque: Wishes to have tea with the princesses
at Disney World
– Gallup: Wishes to meet Steve Nash with the Phoenix Suns
– Las Cruces: Wishes to see a Broadway Show in NY
– Albuquerque” Wishes to visit Washington DC to get a tour
of the White House and see the museums
– Albuquerque: Wishes to have a Quinceañera
– Rio Rancho: Wishes to meet Peter Parker (from Spiderman)
- Santa Fe: Wishes to go to Disney World with her family
The 1st Annual Gail
Biggler Volunteer Summit
Jenny H.— “It was an absolutely perfect once-in-a-lifetime
experience. For 4 days, the whole family forgot Jenny’s disease
totally. We never saw Jenny so happy. Thank you so much!”
Ariel B.— “You did a great job! God belss you. Ariel loved the
whole trip.”
Immanni A.— “We wanted to take some time out to say
thank you for granting Immanni’s wish. We all had a wonderful time. What you guys do for families makes them feel like
they are not in the situation alone. It helps to have some fun
time to not think about the illness. Thank you all from our
family to yours. Keep up the good work!”
Paulina A.— “Thank you for being so nice and granting me
this wish and for being so nice to all of us. It really was worthwhile, I would do it again if I could, it was a great experience.”
Thank You!
We would like to send out a great big thank you to some of
our corporate sponsors who have supported our efforts to
make wishes come true.
Southwest Airlines
Carey Limousine
Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
Screen Images
Bryan’s Photography
Give Kids The World
Chi Omega – UNM chapter
NM Mutual
The Bosque School
This year marked the beginning of what we hope will be
a long-standing tradition, with the 1st Annual Gail Bigler
Volunteer Summit on January 19th.
The summit was held to encourage all volunteers (from
throughout New Mexico) to get together and meet one
another, and also to present current and updated information.
We wanted to emphasize the importance of the roles of
our MAW volunteers, by celebrating each and every one
of them. We had a great turnout, with volunteers from
around the state, including Roswell, Las Cruces, Taos and
Farmington areas.
We received extremely positive feedback, and look forward to an even bigger turnout next year. We also wanted
to extend a special thanks to the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque, for hosting the event and going above and beyond to
make all of us feel extraordinary.
Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Mexico
2007 Five Star Donors
Gail A. Bigler Memorial Fund
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Wishing for Fishes or
Fishing for Wishes?
a “Kids” tournament so they could better
connect with the children and families. The
organization pays for the hotel rooms, travel
expenses and gas mileage so everyone can
come, regardless of distance.
Thirty-one wish kids and their families
from New Mexico and Texas met at the lake
for this year’s kid’s tournament on Saturday, June 9. The day started with an early
morning pancake breakfast with all the
fixings. Each child received a hat, t-shirt,
fishing pole and tackle box of their own. Approximately 40 volunteer fishermen took the
children and their families out on the lake
for a morning of fishing.
When the children returned at noon they
were asked if they had a fish to measure or
a good fish story to tell, both were equally
worthy of praise. After a lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs each child was called up
individually and given a “Champion Fisherman” trophy and bag of goodies. Everyone
went home grinning, with new stories and a
little sunshine from a day at the Lake. The
volunteers, who just couldn’t seem to get
enough, seemed to be the biggest winners and have the biggest smiles of all.
This year’s tournament meant a
donation of $50,000 to the New
Mexico Chapter. Because of
their efforts approximately 14
deserving children will receive
their fondest wish this year.
Words simply can’t express
our sincere granditude to
all who have given and
participated in this incredible community
endeavor. Thanks
P.B.O.B.I.!
Princess
for a Day
Danielle B. from Alamogordo wished for the Ultimate Prom Experience, because
she “wanted a day to feel like a princess.” Danielle’s wish was granted on April
21, 2007. Many special members of the Alamogordo and Las Cruces communities came together to help us make Danielle’s wish a reality. We would like to
extend our gratitude to Las Cruces Limousines, Spatini, Alamogordo Flower
Company, Alamogordo High School, NMSBVI, and Sylvia’s Creations, as well
as a special thank you to Danielle’s wish granter Sue. We would also like to extend a big Make-A-Wish thank you to Jewelers for Children, who through their
sponsorship, made it possible for us to bring
Danielle’s wish to fruition.
Justin
“Catches”
His Wish
Justin K. from Albuquerque, had always
dreamed of going deep sea fishing off the
Florida coast. His wish was realized in March,
when Justin accompanied by his parents and
cousin, flew to the Florida Keys for a deep sea
fishing excursion. While in Florida, Justin had
the chance to fish on two local charters.
Thank you so much to The Challenge LLC, for
sponsoring Justin’s wish, and a big thank you
to his Wish Granters Rachelle & Annette!
We would like to
thank DMC Landscaping and Lawn
for all their help on
Arthur’s wish. Also
a big thank you to
his Wish Granters,
Angelic, Joyce and
Anna Beth. You
guys did a great job!
We would like to thank Targa Midstream Services for all of their
hard work and dedication toward the success of this years Targa
Spring Golf Tournament!
A REEL
ADVENTURE
“My wish was to meet the cast of One Tree Hill. It was the
BEST week of my LIFE!!! MY ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE part
was when I got to hug Chad Michael Murray!! It was the BEST
feeling in the world. Another of my FAVORITE things was just
talking to Sophia Bush and Mark Schwahn! I loved going onto
all the sets! My favorite set was Lucas’ room of course! It was
even more gorgeous then the show! Everyone was so friendly
and SO nice! It was all just so amazing! If I could, I would give
anything to just get to do that week over again.”
We would like to give Megan and Kathie a big thank you for
helping to make Elicia’s wish so special. We would also like
to extend our sincerest gratitude to Jewelers for Children for
sponsoring Elicia’s wish.
Thank you to our friends from WalMart in Gallup and Farmington, for all of their hard
work toward making Layla’s wish so very special, and for sponsoring her wish as well!
* A big Make-A-Wish thank you to Glenn, and all of our friends at
Best Buy for helping to grant Becca P.’s electronics wish, and for
their continued support of MAWFNM!
* Jared S. and his sister Isabel enjoying their time in Sea World.
A special thank you to Jared’s Wish Granters Vivian and Denver!
* Juan C., from Albuquerque, wished for a laptop computer so he
could study and play games. Thank you to Juan’s Wish Granters
Valerie and Katy!
* Kevin C. and his sister Savannah, from Zuni New Mexico, “hangin out” with Mayor Clayton and Ms. Merry at GKTW. Thank you
to Waylon and Mercy, Kevin’s Wish Granters.
* Tasha S. from Albuquerque wished for a deluxe computer
package. A big Make-A-Wish thank you to Chef Clause for all he
did to make Tasha’s wish extra special. Congratulations Tasha,
Sandia Prep class of 2007!
* Rachael B. from Albuquerque was granted her fondest wish of
a family vacation to Disney World, thanks to her Wish Granters
Rachel and Mike!
Upcoming Events
20th Anniversary 1,000th Wish Celebration
July 21
Santa-Ana Ladies Pro-Am
July 23
Clovis Volunteer Wish Granter Training
July 28
Legacy Riders Annual Toy and Book Run
Mesilla Valley Amateur Golf Invitational
August 25
August 24-26
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiestas October 6-14
Make-A-Difference Day
October 27
Farmington Volunteer Wish Granter Training
TBA
Please help us update our
mailing list!
Thank You,
Legacy Church!
With heartfelt appreciation to the
members of Legacy Church,
Make-A-Wish Foundation ®
of New Mexico recognizes their
generous Christmas Donation of
$60,000.00
YOU ARE OUR HEROES!
Just indicate any change of
address on the back of the
enclosed remit envelope.
Non-Profit
Organization
US Postage
PAID
Make-A-Wish Foundation ®
of New Mexico
144 Louisiana Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, NM 87108
Albuquerque, NM
Permit No. 1829