2008 Woodie Awards
Boise State athletes make wishes come true
JOEY MCCULLOUGH
Arbiter Journalist
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Sports
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The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life threatening illnesses. The goal of Make-A-Wish is to help the children and their families cope with the child's illness. Wishes range from going to Disneyland to meeting their favorite athlete or celebrity.
"It's a great night, one of my favorite nights of the year for such a great cause," Boise State Head Football Coach Chris Petersen said. "It's awesome to have the athletes here, they have such big hearts. To see the athletes come out here and make time from their busy schedules for this is great."
The athletes helped serve the guests as well as raised money for individual Make-A-Wish kids. A handful of players from each Boise State athletic team grouped up and competed with other athletes to see who could raise money for individual Wish Kids each team represented. The athletes wore pins on their shirts with the face of their Wish Kid on them.
Guests purchased Wish Bucks and gave them to the players. But the guests didn't just give them away-the athletes had to earn them. Some sang like Darrell Acrey, linebacker on the football team. He entertained the whole crowd as he sang and danced to Michael Jackson's song, "Beat It."
"I don't sing, I do massages," basketball player Anthony Thomas said. "The whole night is just about fun and helping kids."
Some teams, like the Women's Golf team, performed rap battles and danced. Football player Jarrell Root and gymnast Amy Glass got the crowd pumped up and cheering when they competed for a handful of Wish Bucks by seeing who could do the most push-ups. Glass won by doing a total of 64.
Members of the tennis team did tricks with rackets and tennis balls. One guest asked senior tennis player, Steve Robertson to bounce a tennis ball on a wine bottle 20 times for Wish Bucks. It took him a couple attempts, but he eventually did it.
The "Kellen Moore Fan Club" was the name of the winning team that included football players, Kevin Sapien, Faraji Wright, Matt Slater, Joe Bozikovich and Tim Brady. They raised $1210 for a 13-year-old kid named Garrett who hadn't decided on a wish.
Mark Johnson, the play-by-play for Bronco football on KTVB, and KTVB News Anchor, Carolyn Holly hosted the night. The featured guest of the evening was boy named Zac whose wish to meet the Dallas Cowboys was granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Idaho. He gave a short but inspiring speech on how his illness has affected his life.
The whole evening raised an estimated $200,000 for the Idaho Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last year's totals were near $165,000. Thanks to donations of $10,000 from one guest and Peterson as well thousands more from guests who attended Monday night, many wishes will be granted for Idaho kids.
"On average, Idaho grants about 84 wishes a year and with the proceeds raised from Monday night's fundraiser, 30 wishes can be granted," Co-chairman of the Serving Up Wishes Committee AnneMarie Kaus said.
It struck a soft spot in me to see so much support going towards Make-A-Wish. I saw firsthand what it means to a child and her family to have a wish granted. My niece was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor a few years ago and to see her deal with so much pain and suffering broke my heart. Then to see firsthand the joy that it brought him and her family. It made the illness almost seem like it was gone for the time being. I can't begin to imagine the happiness that a child experiences when his or her wish is granted; it makes me proud to see so many people giving to such a great cause.
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Jacki Collins
posted 10/17/08 @ 10:48 PM MST
Thank you to Joey for writing the article about the Serving Up Wishes dinner. I too was in attendance that evening. The athletes are indeed incredible with hearts as big as houses! Darrell Acrey and the whole group - we love you all! My son Alex is a "Wish Kid" - affected with a life-threatening liver disease. (Continued…)
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