My first Make-A-Wish experience came while I was on The Apprentice. My team, Synergy, had won a task and for our reward, we had the honor of granting a young girl, Daeshira's wish--to have a shopping spree at Toys-R-Us. As I wrote in Footprints In The Boardroom,
(Picture of us outside Toys-R-Us waiting for Daeshira to arrive)
We took Daeshira on a shopping spree with her parents and her sister. To see the looks on their faces and the happiness it brought them was priceless. And you think: Why am I here anyway? Why am I here competing for a job? Then you realize that God puts you here for a reason and it was good for us to put all the competition aside and focus - not on ourselves, because I think this whole process can be so selfish- but to focus on Daeshira. That was such an awesome experience: to grant Daeshira's wish. What is even more notable is that she wanted to buy things for her family and her friends - not just for herself. So we said: "No take one of everything in the store!" She was so precious, quite the young lady. I'm completely enamoured by her.
I realized that I don't have to get up every morning worrying about much. But Daeshira does. She has so much to worry about and yet something such as going shopping which some would see as minor, made her day; no, her life. Daeshira's parents and her sister were also wonderful. They were so grateful; her mom kept saying. "Thank you, thank you so much." One of the best things in life is giving to others and I'm glad that as cut throat as The Apprentice was, we were able to pause, take a moment and give back.
Because of my experience with Daeshira, I am now serving as a spokesperson for Make-A-Wish's Destination Joy campaign presented by Lay's. Destination Joy, which officially kicks off in June, is the Foundation's first national campaign to inspire people to donate their time, talents, and resources to grant the wishes of courageous children. In the next four years, 100,000 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. But we all can do something to bring a little joy into the lives of these wonderful children.
And by the way, Daeshira is doing very well and still talks about her wish.
I will be blogging about Make-A-Wish and Destination Joy presented by Lay's more as the official campaign kicks off, but if you would like to find out how you can get involved visit www.wish.org.
- RXW
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