Make-A-Wish: Assistance With Shopping Spree

Location: Michigan Avenue

Date: Sunday, June 16, 2013; 11:00 am-4:00 pm

One of the more popular wishes through Make-A-Wish is for a shopping spree.  It is also one of the few wishes where the ‘Wish Granters’ actually get to participate.  However, sometimes the ‘Wish Child’ combines a shopping spree wish with a travel wish.  This was one of those wishes.  A girl in Michigan had wished for a shopping spree on Michigan Avenue and was therefore headed to Chicago.  Obviously, her ‘Wish Team’ would not be travelling with her, but that does not mean MAW abandons them to be on their own.  Usually the local chapter assigns other 'Wish Granters' to the family for the day, so that they get a similar experience as they would in their hometown.  I had seen this opportunity on the website and had signed up.  Besides me, there was going to be another trained 'Wish Granter' who would be participating.  We started the preparation with more than a week to go when MAW staff contacted me and Andrea – my partner for the day – and gave us more details on the family.  We learned that the girl, Cierra, has already short-listed the stores she wanted to visit and most of those were in the ‘Water Tower Place Mall’.  Andrea and I exchanged emails during the week planning how we could make this more special for Cierra.  We may not have been her 'Wish Granters'.  But we would give her a visit to remember.

Water Tower Place Mall

We knew that ‘Macy’s’ and ‘Forever 21’ were a couple of the stores that she was interested in.  So we decided that I would call those stores and check if they could do any enhancements, while Andrea would call the Mall itself.  I called 'Forever 21' and explained that I was representing MAW and we would be having a 'Wish Child' visit the coming Sunday.  I asked if they could do any enhancements such as having the store employees greet her or assigning her with a personal shopper.  While the 'Forever 21' employee was sympathetic and wanted to help, she said that her hands were tied since Forever 21 is a private company and any deviations from their daily routine.  I thanked her for her time and moved on.  Later that day I found myself in the mall and visited ‘Macy’s’ office, the same place I used to pick up ‘Believe’ campaign letters from, week-after-week.  I asked for Amy, who had been my contact at Macy’s, but she was out.  I mentioned how ‘Macy’s’ had been a terrific partner of MAW for so long and we would be appreciative of another such gesture the coming Sunday.  The lady at the desk took down my contact information and promised to have someone call me back. Andrea had also managed to reach some other stores and the Mall offices, all of whom had promised to do something special.  A day before while I was at ‘Serve-A-Thon’, I got a call from Sarah who worked at ‘Macy’s’.  She said that everyone at ‘Macy’s’ was excited to have Cierra visit and asked if there was anything special that Cierra wanted.  I said that I had no idea what teenage girls want and Sarah suggested a makeover.  It sounded good to me and with a day to go, we were ready to go.

I arrived at Marriott Hotel in downtown, wearing my MAW shirt.  I spotted Andrea through her shirt and we chatted about our MAW experiences as we waited for the family to come down.  I had spoken with the ‘Wish Mom’ earlier in the week and had mentioned that we would be waiting in the lobby.  The family came down soon and besides Cierra and her parents, we had two younger sisters, Alyssa who is 12 and Chelsea 6 and a younger brother Daniel who is 10 and baby brother Christopher.  With such a big group, we needed a big vehicle and MAW had booked a limo for us.  After a few phone calls with the limo driver, we finally managed to figure out the pick-up spot and lo and behold, it was the same driver that had dropped Hannah and her family at the airport.  He introduced himself as Frasier and was a cool gentleman who was chewing on a toothpick.  I instantly took a liking to him and knew that we were in good hands. 

A full bar inside the limo

It took some time for all of us to get inside and for me personally, it was the first time inside a stretch limo.  It was everything I had imagined it to be with multicolored lights and one entire side comprised of a bar.  Well, with more kids than adults, the bar was not exactly being used and in any case we had a short few blocks to travel.  Frasier dropped us off at Hancock building, where we would be lunching at 'The Cheesecake Factory’.  We got a table and settled down, with me sitting next to Alyssa and across Daniel.  All the kids, especially Alyssa were stuck with their noses in their respective iPhone's.  When I asked her what she was doing, she said she was playing a game in between exchanging texts with her friend.  She loves her desserts and emerged from her phone to study the extensive cheesecake menu.  I asked what she wants to do when she grows up and she said either be a hairstylist or work in art.  I said the both need not be mutually exclusive.  Daniel was a very thoughtful boy who rarely spoke but when he did, was very polite.  I asked Cierra about herself and learned that she wants to study finance.  But the person who was the life of the party was little Chelsea, who is a bundle of joy.  Not only was she needling Alyssa, but knew exactly what buttons to push with all of her siblings.  It was going to be a fun afternoon.

After lunch, our first stop was ‘North Face’.  While it was not on the list that we had received, Cierra wanted to check it out.  Her mom told me that on previous Friday, Cierra had visited their local mall in Michigan and tried out all of the outfits that she wanted to get.  This meant that she was very well prepared for her shopping spree and knew exactly what to get where.  While the women shopped on the first floor, I went upstairs with Daniel and his dad to look at some shoes.  Besides the money allocated to the 'Wish Child', MAW also budgets a small amount for the siblings.  But to their credit, the rest of the kids did not seem to want anything.  Cierra picked out a jacket and paid for it with the debit card that MAW had provided.  Our job as 'Wish Granters' was to present the MAW Tax-exempt certificate during checkout so that Cierra would not be charged any sales tax.  It was interesting to see the check-out person get confused and call his manager who after some initial skepticism accepted our certificate. 

We then proceeded to the ‘Water Tower Place Mall’ and while Andrea went to the main desk to let them know we were there, the rest of us went to ‘Express’.  While Cierra went about with her shopping, I chatted with Chelsea and Alyssa.  I learned that Alyssa loves animals, especially dogs.  I showed her pictures from my ‘PAWS’ event with One Brick, as well as some other dog pictures from ‘Pet Therapy’  Once Cierra was done, we did the same routine with the tax-exempt certificate at the checkout and then assembled to see the goody bag that Andrea had brought with her.  The mall had gone all out and had put together a gift package for Cierra comprising of all sorts of items from various stores, along with a gift card for shopping within the mall.  Cierra was overjoyed and so were Andrea and myself.  It was fantastic to see the mall respond to our request, and do this at such a short notice and with complete faith in what we were doing.

Next stop for the women was ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and so I took Daniel and went to the ‘Brain Store’.  Daniel is a bright boy and thoroughly enjoyed being there and working on the puzzles.  We spend some time there and Daniel was completely engaged.  Andrea texted me and we went outside to see Cierra and others carrying lots of bags.  Like the mall, ‘Victoria’s Secret’ had also responded to Andrea’s request by showering Cierra with lots of gifts.  Andrea’s folks had come through in a big way.  Now it was up to me.  I called ‘Macy’s’ and told Sarah that we were here.  She asked us to proceed to the 1^st floor where they have all the make-up stations and assemble at ‘Impulse’, where someone would meet us.  The problem was that Cierra had decided not to shop at ‘Macy’s’, so I whispered to her mom that this was a surprise.  We managed to convince her to go with us and soon our group was waiting by the ‘Impulse’ booth.  We were joined by a woman and a man, who were ‘Macy’s’ staff and who were carrying two bags containing lots of makeup and premium toiletries.  It was not just them delivering these and leaving, the woman had a tremendous personality and spend some time chatting with us, especially with Daniel and other kids about their favorite children’s TV show.  

Our hands full of bags, we decided to go to one last place before calling it quits for the day. Chelsea really wanted to go to 'American Girl', but we did not have much time and I was amazed at her maturity when she accepted that and kept on smiling.  How many girls of her age would have done that?  I called Frasier and he came over with the car to pick us up.  We piled in and headed to State Street and to ‘NY and Company’.  Frasier dropped us and went to find parking while Cierra tried to get most done in the limited time we had before Frasier had to leave for his next assignment.  She picked up a few things while I played with Chelsea who was becoming my best friend.  At checkout we encountered our first problem of the day when they refused to accept our tax-exempt certificate.  I argued our position and we realized that their reluctance was due to their ignorance on how to do the checkout rather than principle.  They finally figured it out and now we were ready to leave. 

Frasier dropped us at the hotel and I told him that I would call him should I require a limo.  He had been fantastic and just the kind of driver that a MAW family would need.  Andrea and I took several pictures with everyone and before we left, Chelsea gave me a hug and said that she was sad to see us leave.  She wasn’t the only person who felt like that because I knew that I would miss her as well.  The family had another day in Chicago and we told them where to go and what to do.  As I wished them all luck and left, I reflected on this wonderful day.  Later I called my ‘Wish Partner’ to discuss our first assignment that we had received yesterday, and told her about how all the businesses had gone above and beyond to show Cierra that they cared.  Someone once said that people really want to do something good.  They just need to be asked. I had seen that side of establishments such as ‘Macy’s’ and ‘Victoria’s Secret’.  There are days when I do get disappointed in my expectations from people I thought I knew... I thought I understood.  But then comes something totally unexpected like today.  For a second day in a row I have no hesitation in repeating what is a constant theme of this blog…Everywhere life is full of heroism.