This Isn't Just a Skateboard by Danielle Gletow

Image courtesy of jscreationzs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I started One Simple Wish in 2008 a few people told me they probably wouldn't ever grant a wish because they didn't think giving kids "stuff" was really going to make much of a difference in their lives. That statement didn't really bother me too much then because I thought I knew better. I knew that the wishes that children in foster care were making through our program were way more than "stuff." Wishes made by our kids were opportunities created, dreams realized, memories forming and connections being built. I believed in the power of a granted wish but it wasn't until I received this letter from a foster child in Wyoming that I was truly blown away.
It reads...

December 2, 2014

Hello:
My name is Matt and I was a foster child last year when you purchased a Wal-Mart Gift Card for me. I sent you a thank you card and I am so sorry to hear that it never found its way to your mailbox. I was in high school last year and it was kind of a goofy thank you card, so it is fitting that I have a second chance to send you another thank you card.

I used the Gift Card to purchase a skateboard, Hoody and an I-Tunes Card. You would laugh if you saw the skateboard now as the wheels are practically worn away. I used the skateboard to go to school and then go to work. I loved that skateboard and the freedom it gave me to just skate and listen to my tunes. That skateboard was a much needed escape from school, from work and from my worries. I still have the skateboard and it is in my closet. I was just looking at the skateboard the other day and thinking how that skateboard changed my life.

Read the entire HuffingtonPost story here.