Behind The Wish - Whitney Williamson

When I started volunteering for Make-A-Wish I was 21 years old and working for a stockbroking company. I felt like I wasn’t contributing a lot to society through my employment, so started looking for other opportunities to do so.

When i looked into not-for-profits to volunteer with I remembered that one of my good friends in primary school friends, Chloe, received a wish. Her wish was to go to the Gold Coast. I remember the impact that the wish had, and still has, on her family.

Sadly, Chloe passed away, but I still speak to her Mum who cherishes that special memory of their family holiday. So, I thought this was the perfect not-for-profit for me to get involved with, and a friend and I joined up together.

Volunteering for Make-A-Wish makes me grateful for my healthy body. I want to do what I can to stay healthy for as long as possible, so I make sure I keep up my exercise. Exercise is also good for my mental health, which is equally important.

I started running by doing the Couch to 5K with Frank (my staffy dog) but he bailed pretty quickly, the slacker!

I like to challenge myself, so when I looked at the 'City to Surf' fun run and saw that one of the charities I could raise funds for was Make-A-Wish, I thought that was a good fit. So, I trained and went ahead and did a half-marathon, which is 21kms.

Recently I abseiled down the tallest building in Perth (pictured)for the second time to raise money for various worthy charities.

I like to constantly be pushing myself and striving to be better. We grow the most when we are challenged.

I have a had a few different volunteer office-bearing roles over the years. My first was Communications Coordinator. 

I have also been President, Vice President. I am currently the Volunteer Care Coordinator.

I was also the Western Australian representative for the President’s Representative Committee, which advised the Make-A-Wish Board. Those are all extra roles that volunteers can choose to take on.

There are three pillars to being a Make-A-Wish volunteer. There are the wishes. The most exciting part. Then there is the essential fundraising, so we can grant the wishes, and of course promoting Make-A-Wish.

This is important, because the more people that know about the good work Make-A-Wish does, the more support we get, and the more wish applications we’ll get.

There is one key misconception about Make-A-Wish that I am on a mission to clear up. A lot of people think we only grant wishes for terminally-ill children, which is not true.

This misconception is a problem because it stops people applying for a wish. It’s an issue if a child is eligible for a wish but they don’t apply because they think they are ‘not sick enough’. We want to grant every single eligible child a wish.

People sometimes praise me for volunteering, which makes me cringe. I mean, I grant wishes for kids. It is SO much fun. It’s not hard exactly work.

When you are in the volunteering space you are surrounded by so many people who are so much more generous and impressive.

They say you should surround yourself with people you want to be like, well that’s what is good about volunteering for Make-A-Wish. They’re such a good bunch.

Levi’s wish was really special. Levi is joy in a person. He’s just a beautiful human being, and so is his mum and brother. Anyone who steps inside Levi’s world can’t help but feel his shining aura.

His smile is so genuine and contagious. I still get goosebumps thinking about his wish.

It was a really special wish because it required the community to come together for it.

His wish was for a cubby house and a swing set. He had accessibility needs so he had to have a special cubby house where he could enter with his wheelchair, and a special swing that he could lay down in.

It wasn’t easy for Make-A-Wish head office to find the right cubby house that would suit, but they always find a solution.

Because Levi (pictured) did not have full use of all his sensors, having touch sensory elements was important.

The Augusta community that my Nan lives in donated sensory fabrics and Nan sewed them into a beautiful wall hanging for inside the cubby so Levi could touch and stroke it.

Some of them were crinkly and made noises when touched. His face lit up when he played with that wall hanging.

There were some signs we wanted to put up in the cubby, so one of our volunteers came with his drill and we put up a ‘Levi’s Cubby’ sign.

The family was so grateful.

What Make-A-Wish does is more than just put a smile on a child’s face for a day.

Sometimes, the anticipation of the wish is just as important as the wish itself. Each wish recipient gets a Wish Coin. The coin is aphysical representation of our promise that their wish will come true.

When they are having a tough day or going to a challenging medical appointment, they can focus on their Wish Coin and imagine the moment they get their wish. The kids always cherish their Wish Coin.

Then of course, they receive their wish, and we do our best to tailor it to the personality of that child.

For an outgoing, social child we might invite the family, or neighbours to come along to the wish presentation. For an introverted child we’ll keep it low key. But it’s not over then. The wish effect lasts for years after.

Like I said, the effect of the wish that my friend, Chloe, received two decades ago is still being felt by her family.

I believe that to help fight a physical illness, it’s extremely helpful to be mentally strong.

The cool think about a Make-A-Wish wish is that it is not to have anything to do with the child’s illness. That way, when the child thinks about their wish their mind is taken away from their illness.

They have this big exciting, positive thing happening in their life to focus on, instead of their illness. That helps build mental resilience. That’s why I think a wish is an essential ingredient of the recovery of any seriously ill child.

I have received so many genuine, tangible benefits from volunteering for Make-A-Wish.

I started when I was 21 and at university doing a degree in communications. I quickly became Communications Coordinator for my Branch.

I managed a Facebook page and had various public speaking engagements. That meant that when it came to applying for jobs after my degree, I already had experience in my field, thanks to Make-A-Wish. I was a step above all the other graduates leaving uni.

Soon after, I became my Branch President. At the ripe age of about 23, I had leadership and management experience. I was leading 50 volunteers. Some people might say that volunteer experience isn’t the same as paid work experience, but if you think managing staff is hard, well you can’t fire volunteers!

I loved being President and implementing systems to make our branch an even better place to volunteer. It gave incredible leadership experience that I never would have got at such a young age if it wasn’t for Make-A-Wish.

But even more tangible than that, I met a fellow volunteer - who I am still very good friends with today - and she offered me an unpaid internship at her workplace. I went on to worked there for seven years, paid this time. This person, and that opportunity, has been instrumental in my career development.

I don’t think I would be in my current job if it wasn’t for the opportunities Make-A-Wish has given me.

In fact, another Make-A-Wish volunteer has been my personal and professional mentor for the last decade. I’ve made loads of friends through Make-A-Wish over the years.