Make-A-Wish Hawaii Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report

2020 ANNUAL REPORT making lemonade

Aloha Wish ‘Ohana,

You’ve surely heard the adage, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” For many of us, this advice became particularly relevant in 2020, when life as we knew it changed dramatically. We stayed home, isolated from friends and family. We worried about our loved ones. We watched as a devastating illness overtook so much of the world. And yet we kept pushing through, finding joy in the moments spent with those closest to us, taking time to reflect on what is truly important, and being grateful for all that we still had—making lemonade out of lemons.

For our wish families, it doesn’t take a pandemic. They feel these emotions year-round—when their child receives a diagnosis and life seems to shift to an alternate reality, when play dates are traded for hospital stays and a ‘normal’ childhood is replaced with a taxing treatment plan, when once-carefree moments spent together are now tinged with uncertainty and fear. Time and time again, however, our wish families make lemonade. They pause. They reflect. They create and experience joy. And they let us into their lives.

We don’t have a Make-A-Wish lemonade stand on the corner run by eager children (although how cute would that be?!), but we really are in the business of making lemonade—of taking the worst lemons a child could be given and finding something sweet to stir in, an ingredient that changes everything: a wish.

This year, thanks to you, we made some of the sweetest lemonade in our history. After the pandemic halted wish travel and distanced wish granters from wish families, our entire wish community came together. Volunteers met with their wish children over Zoom and FaceTime, local supporters from all walks of life shared their talents and raised funds in a virtual talent show, donors made their gifts early and stepped in when we needed it most, businesses created campaigns that benefited wish kids—the list goes on. Because of your generosity, innovation, and commitment to hope, life-changing wishes in Hawaii never stopped.

We hope you’ll see the far-reaching impact of your partnership in this year’s first-ever Make-A-Wish Hawaii online annual report.

Mahalo for making lemonade with us.

Much Aloha and Best Wishes,

Trini Kaopuiki Clark Jeff Higashi President and CEO Board Chair

year in review

SPOTLIGHTS 2020 events

Events are crucial to fulfilling our mission, allowing us to connect with our Hawaii community and raise vital funds to grant wishes. Much like the wishes we granted in fiscal year 2020, our events too saw a shift. Prior to the pandemic, we had hosted our 13th annual Swing for Wishes golf tournament, 7th Annual Jingle Rock Run, and 5th Annual Waffles for Wishes as usual. After the pandemic, we searched for new ways to bring the community together and raise funds—and so our Stars at Home virtual talent show was born! We carried that momentum shortly thereafter into our first virtual gala, WISH! A Virtual Celebration of Hope.

Thank you to our partners at Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa for hosting a successful 13th Annual Swing for Wishes golf tournament on October 3, 2019. Mahalo to all who supported and joined us on the green for this fun tournament benefiting local wish families.

Thousands of participants, sponsors, volunteers, and vendors joined us at the 7th Annual Jingle Rock Run on December 15, 2019 to walk side-by-side with local wish families and share in the power of a wish during the holiday season. Presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Commute with Enterprise, the event raised over $250,000 to make wishes come true.

Hosted on Leap Day, the 5th Annual Waffles for Wishes brunch took place at the beautiful Aloha Tower Marketplace waterfront. The event featured delicious bites from Hawaii’s top restaurants, fun carnival games, entertainment from Paula Fuga and DJ Jimmy Taco, and even a live wish reveal!

Stars at Home: A Virtual Talent Show

Together with presenting sponsors Domino’s Hawaii and Jersey Mike’s Subs Hawaii, we were proud to present our first-ever virtual talent show, Stars at Home last April. The stars in our community came together to show support for local waiting wish keiki by submitting short videos of their unique talents. With $5 gifts, the community voted for their favorite acts over the course of one week, giving virtual “high fives” to our waiting wish keiki whose wishes were postponed due to COVID-19.

After making the difficult decision to cancel our in-person annual white gala, we instead got to work planning our first virtual gala: WISH! A Virtual Celebration of Hope. The event took place on June 11 and aired on Hawaii News Now’s K5, as well as livestreamed on all of their digital platforms and our social media channels. It truly was a celebration of hope, featuring messages of aloha from our community, the inspiring story of a Hilo wish child, and a moving performance from New Hope Oahu.

Zilber Family Foundation

Domino’s Hawaii

Rick and Teresa Price

Wish Kid Zach

Sophia Yu Recycle4Wishes program