Make-A-Wish Treats Valley Family To Super Bowl Trip
Beth Holmes, Program Manager for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Mississippi, presented Austin Hodge with tickets to the Super Bowl during a “wish reveal” Saturday.
By Jack Gurner
Reporter
WATER VALLEY – Austin Hodge is a man of few words. But, his wide grin spoke volumes Saturday when it was revealed that he and his family would be going to the Super Bowl thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Mississippi.
Austin, 16-year-old son of Angie and Tim Hodge, was diagnosed in August of 2007 with Langerhans cell histiocytosis, a rare disease that attacked the bones in his face.
He was treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis for a year until being cleared in November 2008. “Then he could go back to doing everything a normal kid does,” said his mother, Angie.
The social worker assigned to Austin instructed the Hodge family that he would qualify for a wish through any foundation that provided wishes. “We chose Make-A-Wish,” his mother said.
On Saturday, friends and family gathered at the Christian Activities Center at First Baptist Church for the wish reveal. It had originally been scheduled for Friday night between basketball games at the WVHS gym. But, bad weather caused those games to be postponed.
Beth Holmes, Program Manager for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Mississippi, made the presentation. She explained to the crowd that Austin’s wish to attend the Super Bowl had been granted and that he would receive two tickets from the Foundation, one for him and one for a parent.
Then she revealed that a national donor had provided additional funds that would pay for more tickets, allowing the entire six-member Hodge clan to attend the Super Bowl with all expenses paid.
“They leave Memphis Thursday morning and fly to Dallas and then Ft. Lauderdale,” Holmes said. “They be staying at a hotel in the Ft. Lauderdale area and they’ll be having five days of Super Bowl fun.”
The Make-A-Wish Founda-tion of America has activities planned for the 12 “Wish Kids” who will be attending the Super Bowl from chapters all over the country. The Foundation and the NFL have a relationship that makes the Super Bowl wish opportunities available, according to Holmes.
“Austin we wish you well. We support you and we hope your wish brings you joy,” she added.
“He deserves it,” his mother said. “He’s had a rough road the past couple of years. But, his strength has endured through the whole thing. He’s been my rock. He’s tough.”
As for the man of few words, Austin just had this to say: “It’s pretty great. I didn’t expect this at all.”
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Would You LIke To Help?
JACKSON – The organization that made Austin Hodge’s dream of going to the Super Bowl come true, granted wishes for 83 children in Mississippi last year.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Mississippi is a non-profit organization that grants the wishes of youngsters with life-threatening illnesses. Since the Mississippi chapter began in 1984, it has granted over a thousand wishes, according to Beth Holmes, Program Manager.
“When a child’s wish is granted, it gives them a change to hope…to believe that anything is possible…even the future,” she said.
Holmes said that the organization grants a good many wishes in the northern part of the state, but they don’t have any volunteers in the area. “We really, really need people who are trained to grant wishes. And, they could do what I did in there today.”
She explained that the job of a volunteer would include interviewing potential Wish Kids” and their families and finding out their wish. Then, when the time comes, they would participate in the wish reveal, which is what occurred Saturday for Austin.
Another problem is money, Holmes added. “We get very little funding from the northern part of the state and the delta. Very, very, little. And, we have about 123 kids right now on our waiting list.”
“We’re trying to go all over the state and get the word out that kids are waiting for their wishes,” said Holmes.”We have kids still from 2007 who haven’t gotten their wishes because we just don’t have enough money.”
There are lots of ways people can be involved, according to Holmes. “They can get their school involved by doing ‘Kids for Wish Kids.’ They can get involved on college campuses by having a group called ‘Wishmakers on Campus.’ Or, they can have us come in to their business or company and have us talk about workplace giving.”
“We’re asking kids at school to bring one dollar, because it is astronomical what it turns into. With companies, one dollar a week or one dollar a month can make a huge difference.”
Holmes said that the Foundation wants to make people more aware of Make-A-Wish and hopes they will decide to be involved. “We desperately need people who would be interesting in working on wish granting and raising funds.”
Anyone interested in helping is urged to contact the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Mississippi at (601) 366-9474 or on the web at www.wishms.org.
