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‘Walk For Wishes’ 5K gives sick children a boost

By Staff | Feb 22, 2017

Children with life-threatening medical conditions stand to benefit from funds being raised on Saturday, Feb. 25, through the 7th annual Walk For Wishes 5K Run/Walk.

“The goal this year is to raise enough money from this event to grant 23 wishes to local kids,” said Make-A-Wish development coordinator Taylor Marini. “Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. and the run starts at 8:30 with our family fun day activities following the run until 11a.m.”

The Southern Florida Make-A-Wish serves all 13 counties in south Florida with the West Coast chapter granting wishes to children ages 2-1/2 to 18 in Lee, Collier, Hendry and Glades counties.

Since the chapter was formed in 1983, West Coast Make-A-Wish has granted 222 wishes to children living in Cape Coral among the more than 10,000 local wishes. As of Wednesday, 137 Cape Coral residents had registered to participate in the 5K run staged at the recreational fields at FGCU, 10501 FGCU Blvd. South in Fort Myers.

Registration can be done online in advance or on the day of the event. Registration fees are $25 for adults, $15 for students and $10 for ages 13 and under. On Feb. 25 the fees are $5 higher. Donations are accepted online, through sponsorships of the event and sponsors of individual 5K participants.

Family Fun Day activities include a rock wall, bounce houses, balloon art, face painting, a variety of food and much more for the whole family to enjoy.

“It’s a family friendly event where people can come and meet with 30 of our wish families participating,” said Marini. “The number of wishes to be granted to Cape Coral kids from this event depends on the referrals we receive so we don’t know how many yet.”

The Walk For Wishes event is one of the largest fundraisers of the year for the organization. It is held nationwide to celebrate more than 270,000 wishes that already have been granted. A child’s wish is granted every 34 minutes across the country and its territories.

“We have four categories for our wishes – to go, to meet, to be and to have,” said Marini.

She said “to go” wish examples include wanting to go to Disney World or go see snow. Other examples are wanting “to be” a singer or a policeman, wanting “to meet” celebrities or famous athletes, or “to have” a new puppy or a computer gaming system.

For more information on Make-A-Wish call 239-992-9494 or visit www.sfla.wish.org. To register for the 5K visit www.walkforwishessfla.net.