Mary Beth Fisher
The Casa Grande Salvation Army found itself in the perfect storm. The COVID-19 virus resulted in fewer volunteers, and a forced reduction in support staff due to reduced donations and personal challenges, despite the increase of families requesting gifts. Captain Mark said those who donated last year were signing their children up for Angel Wishes this year. They were overwhelmed, and unfortunately (or fortunately) children do not stop dreaming and wishing even in the midst of a pandemic.
I contacted Captain Mark Davey and asked him what we could do, and how we could continue our 12-year tradition of supporting the Angel Wishes.
I knew we could not put our wonderful Christmas trees up and there would be no cute little angel shaped tags to choose a child’s wish. The restrictions in using the Sports Center and the inability to gather made our annual charity event impossible. Of course, 2020 has been nothing but virtual communication so I thought, why not coordinate the Angel Wishes online? All I have to do is get the message out to RR residents using the Next-Door app (community wide communication tool) and share it through the HOA website. I have worked with many residents over my 13 years of doing charity events as Robson and they did not disappoint. In 2019 we made 250 wishes come true and this year was no different, they came through as generous as always.
I requested residents contact me via email with their requests for either a boy or girl and one or two. Once I had the total number of wishes to be adopted, I submitted the numbers to Captain Mark and he compiled the list of wishes to meet our requests. I coordinated the drop off of gifts at my home and assisted the Salvation Army in securing them.
We completed our Angel Wish Charity within the health restrictions and we knew in this world with so much pain this year that we brought happiness to someone.