First of all, can I just say that I’m so glad there are people out there who do this job, because I think it would be way too depressing. Kids who are sick and unable to live a normal life deserve some happiness and smiles, though, so it’s awesome that people take it on.
That said, I’ve always wondered whether or not they get requests so strange they’re not able to answer them – so thank goodness for these 16 people who are willing to wish and tell.
16. This kid had the right idea.
Nephew had terminal brain cancer at 8. His make a wish was to see lions. Small community so he got mass funding.
Ended up sending him to Africa for a bunch of Safaris and bunch of helicopter rides. Had time of his life.
Make a wish is now the organization I donate to the most now.
15. Some kiddos just know what they like.
Former junior genie. The vast majority of wishes are pretty common: Disney, WWE, trip to Paris or Japan. Because MAW is locally funded (your donations go to your community), depending on your region, you can get some pretty fancy wishes.
So I wouldn’t say this wish was weird, only that it was different. A kid was obsessed with Dukes of Hazard and the car was going to be at a fair along with some stars. We threw everything at him and still stayed way within budget. He got limo to and from, a bunch of ride tickets and tokens for games, we got him special guest seating and one on one time with the stars.
I’m sure he had the time of his life. But altogether, it was a few hundred dollars and a couple of favors. If the fairs attitude when working with us was anything to go by, he was treated like an absolute king. I remember that case fondly.
It doesn’t have to be MAW but I strongly advise everyone to spend some time working with an organization that gives back. They’re some of the best memories. It’s very humbling and inspiring work.
14. Something only a kid would wish for.
The cutest one that’s been requested is a trip to New York to ride the subway along the entire subway line and buy all of the model subways at the store.
When the dad heard, he rolled his eyes and said that they’d just gone to New York recently and said he expected either that or a visit to the zoo to feed the penguins. They were by far my favorite family to work with and a very loving, goofy one at that.
We haven’t done their wish send offs yet due to covid, so it’ll be nice to see them again once this is all over. I hope when he goes on his trip he’ll be treated really well by the subway conductors.
13. Bless his heart.
Oh my god. This dredged up a long forgotten memory. I don’t remember the details all too well but I’ll do my best.
So, a friend of mine did some work experience a while back. I’m not sure if it was make a wish, but it was a similar organisation anyway. They got a request from some kid that wanted to marry his favourite anime waifu. I’m serious.
The people in charge of this (I’m not sure what they’re called) were completely clueless and had no idea what a waifu was so they just went along with it. They ended up getting in contact with the game developers of said waifu and tried to make something happen. They wanted some sort of video or message from the anime girl addressed to the kid. The developers refused and said that would not be possible. In the end they had to get him a different wish.
Man that was a strange one.
12. No pressure, Mickey…
Not a wish granter, but a parent of a MAW kid.
When we went to the MAW house for my son’s star raising, they had a board with kids photos and their wish. One that made me laugh was the little girl that wanted to “hear Mickey Mouse burp.”
11. This definitely qualifies as weird.
Make-A-Wish Worker’s son here. One time my dad had one of the kids he worked with request that they get feet pictures from some popular twitch streamer.
Obviously he had to turn it down, but offered the kid the ability to meet said streamer but he turned it down. Only cared about the feet. Weird.
10. Being a sweetheart…
Friend’s young son asked for a spider costume. Not Spider-Man. Spider.
No one could find one. Next day was Halloween. A volunteer spent the night making him a spider costume. He loved it. A few months later they asked him what he wanted and he said he already got his wish.
They were so touched that he or his parents didn’t ask for anything else that they sent them to Disney for a week, he got to spend a game day with his favorite baseball team with his own locker and uniform (even had to see the trainer to get taped up), same thing for his favorite football and hockey teams, flew an airplane, all access water park. Met his favorite “celebrities.”
One was actually what most people would consider a celebrity. If they find out anything he likes or is interested in they hook him up.
9. Can you really blame them?
I used to intern at Make-a-Wish Foundation in Pakistan. It usually caters to kids who are really poor. The most common requests I’d see were tractors, air conditioners and refrigerators. It just dawned on me that those requests were made by their parents.
I don’t recall any legitimate requests since they were very few and far between. I guess the farmers saw this as a rare opportunity to get access to nicer goods and I don’t really blame them because they would break their bones working for a 5$/day wage (at a stretch).
8. Ugh why are some parents?
Former Wish Granter here!
A big part of the job is helping the child decide on their wish. The final wish has to be feasible of course so you’re there to make sure it isn’t too outlandish, but, in my experience, kids often don’t initially think “big enough.”
It was not uncommon at all for a kid to request something super small like going to Chucky Cheese, and we’d have to build the wish out from there.
Also we had to make sure parents didn’t try to influence the child’s decision, which I saw many times
7. So wholesome ugh.
Pretty tame but my mother was a wish volunteer and had a kid in the late 80’s who wanted to meet Lassie and Timmy.
Kinda unusual thing for a kid to be into by that point
6. That’s my kind of kid.
My aunt works for make a wish and told me a kid wanted to meet Voldemort.
Apparently the kid was of the opinion that since his cancer was terminal he should join the death eaters.
5. Well now I hate that guy.
My friend’s daughter requested to met Dog the Bounty hunter, but he declined.
4. I love when people are into it.
My favorite one I’ve seen was when someone wanted to go on hermitcraft and meet everyone, and they actually did it.
I mean, ofc hermitcraft would say yes, half the fundraising they do is for feeding america and MAW.
3. That’s a good dad right there.
My brother works for a beer distributor and kid’s dad came in and requested some beers for his son, who was 16 and might last another 6 months, if that, and the kid just wanted to get drunk before he passed.
Make A Wish wouldn’t grant that wish so his dad had to do it. He even paid full price, though my brother gave him a discount.
He wasn’t going to do it, figured it was a scam to get free beer, when someone called from Make A Wish and told him the situation and that they couldn’t give an underage kid beer, even if it was his last wish.
2. Is it weird or super cool?!?
I think my favorite one is one where a young boy around 10 wanted to shoot a car with an RPG and watch it blow up.
They set him up with squad of real marines and a ballistics team in the LA desert and he absolutely got to blow up cars with an RPG for a day. His picture was him in his specially made marine camo uniform and helmet posing with the RPG.
I honestly don’t know how they got away with it but that kid knew what he wanted and he got it.
1. Probably still not the kid’s idea.
I am a Make a Wish mom (my son had his wish in 2006) and I volunteer as a wish grantor. I work mostly with the emergency or quick turn around kids. Kids who can’t wait for their wishes. The weirdest request we got was from a father who wanted to travel to Mecca.
There was no way for his toddler son with a brain tumor to go there or anywhere at that point. We had to delicately explain that this needed to be a wish for the son. We ended up getting a nice TV/video/audio system for their living room where the boy spent his last days.
I don’t even know what the proper response is to some of these. My goodness!
How would you have reacted in this situation? I want to know in the comments!
