T: 9-5 W: 9-5 Th: 9-5 F: 9-5 Weekly: 32 Total: 406 Brianna Fuller

4/12/19
Journal 13

This week has been very good to me, yet busy as usual! My main focus was making sure

my presentation went smoothly. I also sent out bereavement cards, scanned files in to be

transferred to different chapters, sent out wish boxes, updated our wish tree, created a little gift

for our social workers, sent out updates to parents, trained on how to create funds on our

database for our wish kids, and added a new but fun task to my long list of responsibilities!

We had a major loss this week. One of our wish kiddos passed away that we had gotten

to know quite well. I sent out a couple of other cards, but that one was very hard for a lot of

people who really got to get close with her. When we transfer files, we have to scan in every

single page in their file, this is my job! Then we send it to the proper chapter that is adopting that

child’s wish! I mentioned in my last few journals that we are transferring wish kids over to other

states. For some, the parents are relocating, and for others we are giving them up to help reduce

how many kids we have on a backlog. Other chapters such as Florida can take some of ours

sometimes, and complete the wish much quicker, because they have the funds to do so. With just

one Georgia location, it puts a lot on our chapter to cover all of our kiddos in this state. It would

be awesome if we could just have at least one more chapter to lighten the load a bit.

A few wish boxes went out this week as well! It is always exciting when I get to send

these out, because this means a wish kid is about to get their wish granted! I also got a chance to

update our Wish Tree with all of the wishes we have completed during the month of March. We

had the opportunity to complete twenty wishes! That is truly amazing!

 For me and one of my supervisors, we work closely with social workers, physicians,

parents, and kids! I think my Public Health background has definitely prepared me for how I

handle each audience. There is a different tone and communication style when I talk to different

populations, which is every day! For our social workers, they do so much to help us get our job

done as efficiently as possible. Because of this, our chapter will make them a cute little gift each

year to show them we appreciate them! I had a couple of ideas, but my supervisor had already

decided on an idea and put me in charge of designing and completing them. It was basically lip

balm, and it said, “you’re the balm.” A little cheesy but she is surprising them with the little gift

on Tuesday!

For our January kiddos on the backlog, April means they are three months in and have six

more months on backlog until their wish is granted. This week I sent out reminders to all the

parents to let them know where they are in the process, and what documents we still need from

them. Out of fifty-seven files for January, only nine files had all the documents we need. Next

week I will send out the reminders for our October kiddos who only have three more months of

waiting!

This week I also trained on how to create funds for wish files on our database. There are

over three hundred to complete, and there are many steps for each one. Once we have a wish in

mind and the idea is submitted to our national office, they will give us a budget and once we

have that we can create funds on our wish kids file online. Each wish is so incredibly different,

so this is challenging to plan a budget for. We have a kid right now who has a wish to fund his

doctors research on his untreatable cancer. This is our chapter’s wish of this kind. For this

budget, national will set the price specifically according to the policy. Once it is completed, I

will update the file with the funds that we are going to give.
 Another fun task I got also has to do with our kiddo’s wishes! Once we finalize the

flights, dates, itinerary, or any details of their wish, we send our Sneak Peaks! We will print off

all the information, roll it up, put it in a tube, add confetti, and mil it out for our wish child to

open with all the wish details!! This is super fun, and they also get our wish kids excited for their

upcoming wish. It is really hitting me as they begin talking about the next set of interns that will

be coming in. I have really enjoyed working for this foundation and it is going to be the saddest

goodbye. I love everything they do and stand for, and I will forever be thankful for all the busy

work and lessons this internship has taught me.