Santa letters and holiday wish lists help critically ill children
Plymouth Elementary School students Brynn Tenthoff and Riley Stocchi dropping off their holiday wishes.
“I got a chance to look at some of the letters written by the students. A lot of them asked Santa for good health for others and for coronavirus to end so others can get better,” said Lizzie Felgoise, president of the PW Make-A-Wish Club, who led the project. “This really touched my heart and showed me how generous and kind people can be.”
Through the Believe campaign, Macy’s donated $2 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for every letter or list. With the help of the Plymouth Elementary students, the PW Make-A-Wish Club collected 167 letters, before cutting the campaign short with the county-wide shutdown surrounding Thanksgiving.
As a Make-A-Wish recipient herself, Lizzie founded the PW Make-A-Wish Club with her older brother last year. While at a routine cardiology appointment for a heart condition in 2017, she found out that she would need emergency surgery. This was when she also discovered that she was eligible for Make-A-Wish and requested to meet one-armed surfer, Bethany Hamilton.
“Instead of focusing on the pain and struggle I was about to endure, I focused on how magical my wish was going to be; but it was better than I could have ever hoped. When I was out of surgery, I immediately wanted to start preparing for my wish. I told my physical therapist that when I got to Hawaii, I wanted to push up on the board and surf a wave with Bethany,” said Lizzie. “My wish pushed me to want to get better, and I want to help other kids in our area have the same incredible experience.”