Danielle Gletow, founder, One Simple Wish, www.onesimplewish.org
Christmas is just around the corner. By now you’ve probably decorated your tree, planned your holiday menu, baked some cookies and completed most of your shopping. It’s an exciting time — a time to get together with family and friends and celebrate our blessings.
But consider this: More than 500,000 children in the US, 8,000+ in New Jersey alone, will not wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning. They will not wake up to find their families waiting by the tree with presents. Many will be waking up in group homes, foster homes and other places where their parents and siblings are not.
One Simple Wish is asking everyone in the community to remember these children this week as you make your final preparations and consider granting a holiday wish for them. By going to www.onesimplewish.org you can read about one of these children and make their special holiday wish come true for as little as $10.
One Simple Wish still has over 100 wishes “in the wind” on the website. Wishes range in value from $10-$100 and include simple items like soccer balls, boots, baby dolls, fire trucks and winter coats. Granting a wish is simple; anyone can go to the website and search the database of wishes by the value of the wish, the age of the recipient and many other factors. Once they find a wish they’d like to grant, they can choose to send the item to One Simple Wish or to pay online or by check and let One Simple Wish shop and deliver the gift.
”Although One Simple Wish grants wishes all year long, this is by far our busiest time. We expect to grant 3-400 wishes this month alone. We encourage you to think creatively when granting wishes; such as paying for the items with partially used gift cards you have in their wallets or using credit card points. Many credit card companies have programs like American Express’s Members Give that allow people to donate their points to charity. In turn, we can use these donations to grant more wishes.
One Simple Wish supports over 75 agencies through our Community Partner Network, which includes Boys & Girls Club of Trenton/Mercer County, Big Brothers Big Sister, the Division of Youth and Family Services, UIH Family Partners, Greater Trenton Area YMCA and Children’s Home Society, among others.
Volunteers are needed today (Dec. 23) to wrap and deliver gifts throughout Mercer County. If interested, please visit One Simple Wish’s volunteer Meetup page at www.meetup.com/oswvolunteers.
Thank you for your kindness and consideration.
