Make-A-Wish® Illinois Chapter

Featured Volunteer

JANUARY FEATURED VOLUNTEERS
Nancy Cortes and Rick Gutierrez

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois is able to fulfill its mission because of outstanding volunteers like Nancy Cortes and Rick Gutierrez who continuously exceed expectations.

Nancy and Rick both started when Foundation was in need of bi-lingual volunteers. Nancy saw an article in the newspaper and jumped at the opportunity. Since she started a year ago, she

Volunteers Nancy and Rick with wish child Anginette

has completed six wishes and has helped translate wish itineraries into Spanish. Nancy has worked on most of these wishes with wish granting partner Rick, who has been volunteering for two years and is currently working on his ninth wish.

Rick had a son who passed away, and now Rick wants to focus his time and energy into doing something positive to honor his son's memory. His first project was a trip to Mexico to build houses with Habitat for Humanity. After returning home, he was looking for local opportunities and heard about the Foundation's need for volunteers from a co-worker. Rick signed-on shortly after and has been changing lives ever since.

Rick and Nancy always take the initiative to be creative with their wishes and really invest themselves. A recent room re-do wish for eight year old Ricardo, is a great example.

"We were able to work with Ricardo and his family for six to seven months and became a little family," said Nancy of their time on this wish. They also worked with Darvin Furniture and received great donations to enhance Ricardo's wish. "Ricardo was usually very quiet, but seeing him all smiles on the day his bedroom was revealed was really what it's all about," said Nancy.

For five-year-old wish child Anginette, Nancy and Rick did everything they could to make her wish a unique experience and help the family through the process. The week before Anginette and her family were to leave on a Disney Cruise they showed up to help the family with last minute questions about their cruise and delivered a goody bag with yummy treats. A couple nights later, they took the family to the Rainforest Café to get Anginette even more excited. They contacted the restaurant ahead of time and were able to get the meal donated. On Anginette's wish day, Nancy and Rick went to the airport at 3 a.m. to give the family a great send off. Lauren Levin, Wish Coordinator for the Illinois chapter is inspired by how much effort they put into their wishes, "I do not have enough words to describe how phenomenal Nancy and Rick are at wish granting, they go above and beyond this way for all of their wishes."

Nancy and Rick agree that their favorite wish type is "I wish to have" because of how well they get to know the wish families and the impact they can make.  They are now working on a wish for a young girl's Quinceañera party. Rick says he enjoys, "everything from getting the cake donated to receiving a great discount on the banquet hall. It makes the wish granting process more hands on. People know the Make-A-Wish Foundation name, so they are very willing to do what they can to help the organization."

In addition to being a great solicitor of in-kind donations, Rick is also great about reporting his volunteer activities back to his company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, which has resulted in the company donating $1,120 in honor of his volunteer hours last year.

Nancy and Rick are a great team and each credits the other for their success. Together and as individuals they are doing wonderful things to enhance every wish experience and make wishes come true.

A wish come true helps children feel stronger, more energetic and more able to battle their life-threatening medical conditions. The Make-A-Wish Foundation loves being able to recognize the many individuals that volunteer their time to help with the wish, which for most marks a turning point in their fight against their illnesses. Volunteers like the Associate Board make all the difference when they give their time and effort to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Find out more about volunteering and begin the volunteer process on our Step-By-Step to Becoming a Volunteer Page.