"We make magic for kids:" Annual walk helps wishes come true

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Wishes were coming true at Henry Maier Festival Park on Saturday morning, August 23rd. Nearly three-thousand people joined FOX6's Vince Condella at Milwaukee's Summerfest grounds for the 27th annual Walk for Wishes.

If success can be measured in smiles, then Saturday was exactly what Patti Gorski hoped for.

"This day makes a difference in so many people's lives," said Gorski, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish, Wisconsin.

The annual Walk for Wishes, where each step means more wishes can be granted.

"It's just amazing how these wishes are varied by the imagination of the child and it makes all the difference in the world in their life and the life of their families," said Vince Condella, a Walk for Wishes chairman.

Make-A-Wish granted it's 5,000th wish this June when Hailee Hedstrom was granted her backyard clubhouse.

"I'm trying to think here. Probably the best thing I've ever gotten. It's pretty good. I think it's really good to just have my own special space where it's just me," said Hedstrom.

A place she can escape the daily treatments for her cystic fibrosis.

"Since she's had that, it's really really been, just incredible for her to have her own space," said Hailee's mother, Gina Hedstrom.

That wish was made possible through Saturday's fundraiser. The Walk for Wishes, where 25-hundred wish kids, their families, volunteers, and caring individuals, showed up to make a difference.

"This is how we're able to pay for all these wishes. We fundraise, we friend-raise all year through," said Gorski.

This walk ties up the summer in a big way.

"We make magic for kids and that's what today is all about," said Gorski.

Make-A-Wish Wisconsin is on track to grant more than 350 wishes this year. That's up from last year, when 320 wishes were granted.