TOMS RIVER – One little girl used her “holiday wish” to make a difference for other kids this Christmas season.
Make-A-Wish recipient Faith, of Toms River, used her wish to collect and deliver letters to Santa at the Macy’s Believe Mailbox. Faith, her family, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation delivered over 1,400 letters to Macy’s in the Ocean County Mall on Dec. 18, sending off the Christmas wishes of local kids to the North Pole.
Faith’s wish coordinated with the 11th annual Macy’s Believe Campaign, which benefits Make-A-Wish.
“The Macy’s Believe campaign invites “Believers” of all ages to send their letters to Santa at a Believe station at their local Macy’s store or online at macys.com/believe,” according to the Foundation. “For every letter received now through Dec. 24, Macy’s will donate $1, up to $1 million, to Make-A-Wish.”
And Faith was not alone in this ambitious endeavor. Her father is the Chief of the Ocean Beach Fire Company in the Toms River Fire Department, and he recruited numerous members of the department to help collect letters to Santa to deliver to the Believe Mailbox.
Other local fire companies joined in the holiday fun as well, collecting letters from the local community. Local fire departments as well as members of the community joined Faith at the Ocean County Mall on Dec. 18 to deliver the letters.
“It’s hard to ‘believe’ we’re celebrating the 11th Anniversary of the Macy’s Believe Campaign!” said Tom Weatherall, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish New Jersey. “This holiday season, we once again thank our dear friends at Macy’s for their unwavering belief in our mission. Thanks to their commitment, kids like Faith will experience the life-changing power of a wish, giving them hope, strength and joy when they need it most.”
The local community rallied behind Faith to help make her wish come true, as well as the wishes of over $1,400 other local kids, especially those like Faith, with critical illnesses.
Since 2003, Macy’s has donated more than $112 million to Make-A-Wish, over $17 million of which comes from the annual Believe campaign. This funding has helped grant thousands of wishes across the country, impacting entire communities, stated the Foundation.
For more information on Make-A-Wish, visit nj.wish.org.
