Wishes 4 Kids is a wish granting Charity for children of 18 years and below who are life limited, terminally ill, have suffered severe abuse or have suffered life changing physical or emotional trauma’s. We grant wishes for children who live in the Leicestershire area or are being treated at one of the Leicestershire hospitals. Since the Charity was founded in September 2002 we have granted 5338 to date and we average a wish a day at the present time.
We receive referrals from hospital staff, clic sargent, macmillan nurses, social services, schools, the police, family and friends and many other agencies.
We ask our children to complete a wish application which asks them to tell us about 3 wishes that they would like, it is then our task to grant at least one of these wishes. We never know what a child is going to ask for, some examples of past wishes have been to meet a celebrity or sportsperson or to visit Disneyland, drive a tank, have a new iphone, visit a theme park or to be a mascot at a football match. We have been asked for so many different things over the years and they are all special to the child that asks for them.
Wishes 4 Kids is funded totally by the public and local businesses that support us and we are very grateful to everyone for their help. We could not grant the children’s wishes without their kindness and generosity.
When a child has been referred to the Charity we then include them in special days out that the Charity organizes, pantomimes, parties etc. We are very lucky to get invitations for our children for the circus, bowling, cinema and several other activities and we invite as many wish children as possible to attend these events. This enables the children and their families to spend some time together which they are not normally able to do as a social group.
We are very lucky to have a wonderful network of volunteers that support the Charity who we could not manage without and the Charity has become a huge family which we are very proud of.
Sadly, we do not have a magical cure for these children but we are very privileged to be able to see their faces and the joy and happiness that a wish being granted for them brings. They forget they are ill or having treatments for a short time and it’s amazing how much effect their wish has on them, that is the magic for us.