Volunteer Spotlight on Chris Tucker

In celebration of World Wish Day, we highlight one of our

incredible volunteers from the Melbourne branch. Chris recently

achieved an incredible milestone of 25 years of volunteering for Make-A-Wish.

Read about his most cherished wish story below.

How it started

An inspiring story of persistence

I had the honour of working with a wish child who absolutely loves Bugs Bunny. My colleague and I thought it would be awesome if we could get a personalised Bugs Bunny video message to enhance their Wish.

We starting searching the world for a bugs Bunny impersonator. I put a request out on my Facebook page, with no luck.

I then contacted my Make-A-Wish colleagues at head office and asked them to ask their friends if they knew anyone who could do a Bugs Bunny message for us. Again, no luck.

What Next?

I then contacted Warner Bros in Queensland, Japan, and Los Angeles and asked if they had anyone who could do a Bugs Bunny message for me (Bugs Bunny is a Looney Tunes character. Looney Tunes is owned by Warner bros). Again, no luck.

I also contacted the current Bugs Bunny voice person and another impersonators and asked them if they could assist me with my request. Again, no luck.

I then started searching for Cartoon animation companies, computer generation imagining companies and all sorts of other things via Google. I continually hit a brick wall.

Glimpse of Hope

I often sat at my desk with my head in my hands, saying “There’s a way to make this happen, I just haven’t found it yet... what else can I try”.

I often find myself saying “There’s a way to make this happen, I just haven’t seen it as yet’’ when I am doing things for Make-A-Wish and at work as well.

After four weeks of searching, I came across the video below. I messaged my Make-A-Wish colleague and said “I wonder if we can track down this flight attendant”. Whilst I said that to my colleague, in my head I thought “I’ve got no hope of finding a flight attendant in the US”. I hit google again and started reading what came up in my search. I was on about my 8th article when I came across the flight attendant’s name. I then entered his name into Facebook and to my good luck, he had a Facebook page in his name.

Making the Impossible, Possible

I messaged the flight attendant and you won’t believe this, he messaged me back approximately 4 days later and said he would be happy to create a Bugs Bunny video message for the Wish child. I couldn’t believe it .

This bloke in Melbourne, Australia had found a bloke in New York who was happy to create a Bugs Bunny video message. I was jumping around in my house, screaming YES, YES, YES. I had made it happen.

An Unexpected Friendship

I've since worked with Zach to create a wonderful video message for our Wish child. Zach does many character voices including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky pig. How magical is this for our Wish child!

The Impact of a Wish

I have always said Make-A-Wish makes the impossible possible and I think we have done it again. I hope this makes you feel good and assists you to know that there are still good things happening in the world today.

That’s all folks. Ha ha ha. Sorry Zach, that’s your line.