Children come to the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® at a frightening time in their lives. A time of uncertainty, frustrating limitations, and often pain. A time when life-threatening illness abruptly halts the real work of a child's life-dreaming, creating, imagining, playing-and initiates instead a determined fight for life itself.

The opportunity to "make a wish" punctuates that clouded time with a bright interlude that is hopeful, positive, and joyful. A child who is asked to "wish" begins to visualize a more positive future and to feel empowered to reach out for that future.

Parents tell us that a wish motivates a child to participate more actively in recovery and can even be an antidote to suicidal inclinations in a young person weary of continued treatment. Sixty-five percent of parents surveyed said that a wish elevated their child's energy and physical well-being. Eighty-two percent said that a wish brought back their child's "old self" again and renewed the ability to laugh, to play, and to believe that life could still be good. More that ninety-five percent told us that a wish gave their child a positive future to plan for and a renewed motivation to get stronger or achieve a milestone in the treatment process.

Because we know the values of a wish for a child, we want to make the wishing experience as powerful as possible. Sixteen years after its founding in Utah, the Foundation has created a permanent home for its mission. A Wishing Place enhances the way we orchestrate a wish and serves as a lasting icon for thousands of Utah children with life-threatening conditions: an icon of a powerful healing time, once experienced or yet to come.

It also serves as a consistent reminder to all of us that wishes can indeed come true, that hope and dreams are essential to life, that courage can create a positive future, and that a genuine quality of life cannot exist without experiences of joy and sharing.