Celebrating our Families and our Founder
On Sunday, August 25th, 2019, Wishes & More set out to provide a day of fun for our wish and memorial families. Our goal was to have a day to celebrate our families to allow them to enjoy a day together, remember their wish, or honor the child they’ve lost. Wishes & More has touched over 1,300 families with the incredible mission of support for those who are going through the emotional and heartbreaking news of a diagnosis of a life-threatening and sometimes terminal medical condition for their child. Each of these families has suffered in ways that we cannot fully grasp; however, we have the tools available to support them by providing a memorable and exciting wish and the promise of a scholarship; or the financial gift to help them memorialize their child. The support has meant different things to different families and the Wishes & More Celebration Day was a day to reconnect with families from long ago, allow them to interact with other families going through the wish process and to hear stories of encouragement and hope.
The families had the entire day to spend enjoying Valleyfair and culminated with a family dinner at the picnic area. Wishes & More Board President, Karla Blomberg, helped families share their wish or memorial story with the crowd of over 700 guests and 170 families. After hearing numerous stories from moms, siblings, wish kids and memorial parents, Board Members of Wishes & More surprised the Founder and President of Wishes & More with a special one-of-a-kind gift of a heavily textured and colorful painting.
The canvas painting, titled “Karla – Fairy Godmother to Thousands”, was conceptualized and painted by Mimi Stuart, an artist of energy, after The Art Girls MPLS orchestrated contact. After hearing of Karla’s over 30 years of work in wish-granting, Mimi was propelled to create a piece that encompasses the spirit of giving that Karla exudes and to allow the magic of a wish to shine through. Mimi wrote, “Karla must be one of earth’s treasures – I’ve heard such lovely stories of how she has given so much of herself to help others. This was made with love for her, for the team of hard-working people around her, and for the children who are loved more than they know.”
We are honored to have had the opportunity to reconnect with so many of our families at this special event and also to provide such a beautiful gift to Karla with so many families present, whose lives she’s touched. Giving is essential to any charity, but giving of one’s self for as many years as we’ve seen Karla give, deserves accolades that she would never accept or expect. Thank you, Karla, for being an inspiration and advocate for so many beautiful families who have experienced the unthinkable.