You can now read all of our Kids Wish Network Blogs over at our main site, http://kidswishnetwork.org/category/blog/. We’ve been quite busy blogging away about all of the great things we are doing at Kids Wish Network.

Drop by and leave us a comment.

Thanks!

This Friday is National Boss Day and I am honored to have Shelley Breiner, founder of Kids Wish Network, for my boss. Kids Wish Network is ALL about the kids and making their dreams come true. Kids Wish Network’s website is filled with stories of granting wishes for kids with life-threatening illnesses. Shelley is the one that started Kids Wish Network so that these children would not be forgotten. I say, “Three cheers for Shelley!” The best boss I could imagine.

D.
Director of First Impressions

Kids Wish Network was able to celebrate the Holiday Season by donating approximately $260,000 in merchandise to local charities through out the tricounty area! These donations brought much joy and laughter to children during the holiday season. Due to the difficult economic conditions this year, many local charities were unable to provide for these children that are either sick or underprivileged. We are so grateful and happy to be able to give back into our local communities that work very hard to provide for local children. What a great way to start the New Year!

Distribution Department

Local children from Citrus and Pinellas counties in Florida will be having a blast this Holiday Season regardless of our economic condition. Kids Wish Network is more than excited to be able to give toys and necessities worth $20,000.00 each in retail value to CHIPS, as well as the Citrus County Family Resource Center for the homeless. We are so honored to be able to help them out!

Distribution Department

I have the most wonderful job in the world.  I get to answer the phones at Kids Wish Network.  Although it is exciting to receive calls from celebrities and sponsors, it’s even more exciting to get calls from wish families. That is what this organization is all about  the “Wish Kids” and making their dreams come true. It all starts with a simple phone call that I have the privilege of answering. 

D. (Receptionist)

When I was hired here at Kids Wish Network, I knew that one of my duties was to interview families when they came back after having their child’s wish granted. Let’s just say that I was nervous and, actually, I still am. However, now that I’ve done a few and written press releases on them, it’s not nearly so bad. It only happens right before I call the family in the form of a ‘sinking stomach’ kind of feeling. You know what I mean? Well, however it goes, I really enjoy hearing these stories. I’ve heard so much joy and gratitude coming out of these interviews that it fills my head and pours out of my ears! It’s so awesome to hear firsthand how wonderful the wishes went. I love hearing it.

~Alicia True (Editorial Department)

As promised, I want to fill you in on the Halloween festivities at Kids Wish Network.  It was a blast!  Everyone brought in their favorite dish and we had a great variety of yummy food.  The costumes were outrageous.  Our department dressed as divas complete with boas, tiaras, bling and more bling.  What’s a diva theme without the “King of the Divas”?  Our “king” was over-the-top with a pug named Tootsie on one arm, a cane in the other, very large cigar (fake of course), a cool hat complete with feather AND (tasteful) PJ’s.  Yep, I said PJ’s.  No prizes were given because it was just too difficult to pick a “best”. 

What’s your Halloween story?

Donna (Development)

The Distribution Department is so excited to have received a huge donation from Back to Basics totaling over $71,000.00. These fantastic toys and books will be distributed directly to the hospitals and wish children through out the US. Children across America will be screeching with joy and have many hours of laughter and play thanks to Back to Basics. We are so grateful for this donation for our wonderful children!

It’s a huge jigsaw puzzle. Each one of us is a piece of it, some how we all connect in a special and unique way. I think we all have a special way of bringing “The Big Picture” together. Today we had an awesome Team Building Workshop. I know Ellen, our instructor, said the Leader personality can see above everyone and view “The Big Picture”. But it is “All of us” who, piece by piece, bring it all together and make it happen.

Our Leader personalities direct us with direction and great expectations; our Task personalities guide us and keep us in line and on time; our People personalities embrace us, making everything flow smoothly and peacefully; our Free Spirit personalities take the vision and everything else and run with it, adding a little more spunk and creativity to the “Whole Big Picture”.

So together, in a whole, we are all uniquely designed, cut out and perfectly created to fit together in our special “Big Picture” – For the Kids!

Thank you, Ellen, for brining out the good, bad and the ugly… But most of all for making us all aware of the different personalities that create the Master Piece here at the “Kids Wish Network.” Check her out at www.focusbydesign.com

We were recently treated here at Kids Wish to a super fun team building seminar. Not only did we all have a really great time during the session, we also learned a lot about ourselves and our co-workers. The goal of these seminars is to really ramp up a feeling of cohesiveness and connectivity in the workplace which in turn, makes for a more productive work environment!

This particular seminar uses a system called Peoplemapping. We all filled out a questionnaire that consisted of seven questions. Once it is completed, you can see what personality type you fall into. There are four categories: Leader, Task, Free Spirit and People. It was really interesting, not only to see where you fall in yourself, but also where everyone you work with falls in.

The seminar was led by Ellen Schuster-Nastir, M.Ed., CPCC, Professional Certified Coach, Trainer & Speaker. She was absolutely terrific! I would definitely recommend businesses and organizations that are interested in enhancing their operations and inter office relationships to check out this program!

Some stats on Peoplemapping:

Over 140,000 people have taken the Peoplemap and it has proven to be an invaluable tool in many fields in addition to corporate businesses, such as: healthcare, engineering, a variety of professional service offices, city and county governments, educational settings, non-profit organizations, Board of Directors, etc.

If you want to learn more about Ellen and her coaching services, check out her website at: www.focusbydesign.com Also, for more information on the Peoplemap System, please visit: www.peoplemap.org

I learned so much at our team buliding seminar.  Seeing how we are all different but yet work so well together.  I think that we all had a great time!!  Thanks Ellen

Hi!

Check it out – we’re on the news.  We just did a wish for a little girl named Carly who wanted only one thing – a swimming pool to splash around in.  Watch the pool being installed click on this link – Carly gets her pool

I would like to take a moment and Thank all of the hospitals that participate in our Hero of the Month program here at Kids Wish Network.  Without you our program would not have succeeded and grown as much as it has.  If you are a hospital or facility that would like to join our program, please contact me either by email at crystal@kidswishnetwork.org or at 727-937-3600.

My first week at Kids Wish Network was amazing! I have great co-workers and an awesome supervisor. I’m working in the Development Department and it’s wonderful helping to raise money for all of our kids!

When I was given my first five wish kids, I was so excited. They all became my children, now I have 12, and I want more! 

Right now I am focusing on Sara, She is from Michigan. She is 13 and struggles daily with an extremely serious systematic condition called anaphylaxis. Her one wish is to go to Disneyland. We are going to make that happen!

That’s where I come in. I begin calling all the local businesses in Sarah’s community for donations. 

Every time I make a call for my children I am proud of what I am doing, everything comes from my heart.

I look forward to coming to work everyday. My children count on me so I have to give 110%.

Through donations, everyone can make a wish come true through Kids Wish Network!

Sheila

Coming on board here at Kids Wish Network seemed like Rocky Road ice cream…. I say that because it was rocky, nutty, mushy yet so rich and sweet… It’s a sweet treat to be able to be a part of something so delightful and real. I have had the pleasure to take on a few wishes that have been touching and dear to my heart…

Starting off and still now I get all tongue tied on the phone – I guess that’s what you call ROCKY! I fumble through my calls making who knows how many mistakes. But in a sense it shows the reality of who I am: human. Trisha was the first wish kid I started doing follow ups on and it was fun calling all these different organizations, churches and clubs in Westfield, WI. I guess Wisconsin doesn’t only have great cheese, they also have great people with great big hearts… They were the first group of people I reached out to! Thank you WISCONSIN YOU ROCK!!!

 A special thanks to the following:

Megan & Chris, Faith United Methodist Church, Apollo Tool Inc., First Presbyterian Church, and M&I Bank Employees.

I know there are more but these are the ones who I contacted and they said they would help and they followed through…

Now the nutty part of this whole deal is me…So stay tuned for my next NUTTY scoop…

Ruthie