Zachary

When our wish wizards Karla Blomberg and Denny Hecker met with wish child Zachary he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Zachary is a HUGE Garfield fan, so it made perfect sense that he would want to meet his hero Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield. Wishes & More® worked their magic and the arrangements were made for Zach to travel Indiana to tour PAWS, Inc., the headquarters for Garfield and to meet Jim Davis of course!
On April 18th Zach and his Mom, Holly, were picked up and taken to the airport for their flight to Indiana. Our Wishes & More® volunteers, John Peterson and John Burch, as well as representatives from Northwest Airlines met them at the airport. Holly said that NWA airlines treated them like royalty and the flight Captain even took Zach on a tour of the cockpit. He was a celebrity that day with Northwest employees stopping by to say hi. Zach was so excited when one of the Northwest employees asked him for his autograph. He certainly was a celebrity for the day! Upon arrival in Indianapolis, Zach and his Mom were whisked away in a 14 passenger limousine to Muncie where the PAWS, Inc. headquarters is located.  Zach was thrilled to ride in such an enormous limo! They even stopped at a local fast food restaurant along the way much to the curiosity of other customers.
On the morning of April 19th Zach and Holly were picked up at their hotel and brought to PAWS, Inc, Garfield headquarters. Max Clifton, assistant to Mr. Davis, guided Zach on his amazing tour and introduced him to everyone who works on the comic strip. And, best of all, Zach was able to spend some time with his hero, Jim Davis.  Mr. Davis autographed items for Zach and promised to send him a drawing of Zach and Garfield together.  His favorite gift was a Garfield t-shirt signed by Davis and all that work at PAWS, Inc.
Zachary became such good friends with his limo driver, Bill Thomas in Muncie that Bill invited Zach to go fishing with him. Zach’s Mom said that he had a wonderful time!
His wish was not over just yet! The wonderful people at Northwest Airlines and Indianapolis Speedway offered Zach and his Mom tickets to tour the Indianapolis Speedway in Indianapolis. They were able to spend a few hours touring the racetrack. Zachary and Holly returned to Minnesota on April 21st with awesome memories of a very amazing wish! A special shout out and thanks to Dave & Jolene Phillips for sponsoring such a special wish!