For Dr. Jason White, D.D.S., a long time supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he’s seeing the first hand affects the coronavirus is having on not just the kids, but also the organization.
“With the COVID hitting, all the non-profits have been hit extremely hard,” said White.
He knows dozens of kids on the South Plains are in a holding pattern right now.
“There’s a lot of kids in West Texas that deserve to have a wish come true,” said White. “And right now with the funds being cut, we’re not able to do those sort of things.”
He knew he wanted to do something to brighten their day.
“So what we came up with was sunshine boxes.” said White.
It became a friendly competition between for his team to see who could come up with the best boxes.
“[We] represent five kids throughout West Texas. From Seminole, to Lubbock to Amarillo,” said White.
They would learn about each child and their favorite things.
“[With one kid] we kind of made her a little musician box basically, got her a karaoke machine. We were looking and decided to do a blanket. So I went and got fleece material and sat there and just cut her one and tied it and made her a nice, soft, fuzzy blanket.” said Shelby Townes, Dental Assistant.
They’ve made boxes for kids with lots of different interests.
“[There was] a little boy with a love of his country, politics and church and so we decorated our box red white and blue, USA kind of thing,” said Corina Gomez, Dr. White’s office Manager.
One was for a little boy who never wants to leave his toys behind.
“One of the boxes was a Toy Story theme, I mean – that’s great,” said White.
The boxes are full of something to keep the kids entertained, and show that they’re being thought about during this time.
“They open it up and it’s a theme that they’re interested in that they like and it was just so much fun,” said Stephanie Thompson, coordinated sunshine boxes.
They serve as a bit of a break from real life for just a moment, which is what the Make-A-Wish Foundation aims to do for these kids.
“These kids are still fighting everyday. They’re fighting disease, they’re having to go to the hospital with masks on, they’re scared already, the treatments are intense. The families go through a lot. Make-A-Wish provides the opportunity to get away from all of that.” said White.
If you’d like to get involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation just give them a call at 806-785-9474.