By Julie Brackemyre
On Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, the WZPL Smiley Morning Show Make-A-Wish® Request-A-Thon, a central Indiana holiday tradition, raised more than $1,000,828. Generous people, businesses, and organizations year after year support the 36-hour event, and listeners request songs for donations on 99.5 zpl (WZPL-FM).
Juli Miller, Chief Mission Officer with Make-A-Wish, explained that the wishes fall into five categories: wish to be, wish to have, wish to meet, wish to go, and wish to give back. “Right now, we have 488 kids just in Indiana waiting for a wish experience to be granted, and in Hendricks County alone, there are 17 kids waiting for a wish. And each year, consecutively, we’ve been able to grant 100 wishes from the Request-A-Thon. It’s pretty remarkable that so many people call in through WZPL’s support, and some of these people don’t have a connection to the organization or to a specific wish child, but they feel pulled to the story and just want to do something. It’s not like anywhere else – WZPL allows us to share all things Make-A-Wish for 36 hours, which is pretty remarkable, and they give us the opportunity to share our stories, our needs, and Indianapolis gets to hear more about our families It says a lot about our community,” said Miller.
The WZPL Make-A-Wish Request-A-Thon has been running now for the past 27 years. The first year, $50,000 was raised, and now it is vastly surpassing that amount. “It’s a testament to Indianapolis and the true partnership that we have established with the WZPL Morning Show. They give us the opportunity to share all of our stories, our needs, raise funds that are necessary for us to grant wishes for the following year, and Indianapolis gets to hear more about our families who are right in our backyard. The Request-A-Thon is a great opportunity for us to meet the families, supporters, donors, sponsors, and volunteers giving back to the community, and working together to rally around this amazing cause,” said Kelsey Burton, Market Director of Advancement for Indiana.
Make-A-Wish OKI (Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana) was founded in 1983 and creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Since then, 20,000 wishes have been granted, and in fiscal year 2023, 1,205 wishes were granted. The total amount raised in 27 years is more than $11M. To learn more about how you can donate, visit oki.wish.org. Be sure to follow Make-A-Wish on social media here: @makeawishohkyin.
