A 5-year-old enjoyed Disney activities and games during a special assembly Friday at Mead High School.
Mila Griffith, who has leukemia, was celebrated by the students for the end of their Wish Week, a spirit week with activities and events that raise money to help Make-A-Wish Colorado grant wishes to children with critical illnesses.
Mila was wearing her light-up “Frozen” shoes and got to spend the assembly with high schoolers dressed as her favorite characters — Elsa, Anna and Olaf the snowman. She said she was excited to be at the assembly.
“It’s really special for her to be honored,” said her mom, Jackie Kucharski. “She’s so excited to meet everybody, to see all the big kids and to go to the big kid school and see her name on a shirt. This is so different from her regular every day.”
Mila received a special gift basket, then watched students play games and throw pies at teachers before participating in one game to collect the most balls — and won.
Make-A-Wish Colorado’s student-led fundraising program Kids for Wish Kids allows students to gain exposure to philanthropy and learn leadership skills while raising funds to grant more wishes for Colorado children with critical illnesses. The schools feature a Wish kid and center their fundraising activities around that child and their wish.
As the presenting sponsor of this year’s Kids for Wish Kids program, PDC Energy has made a $2,000 donation to Mead High School’s Wish Week campaign. This year is Mead’s fifth participating in Kids For Wish Kids, and the school has a goal of raising $22,500 to grant wishes to three wish kids.
Approximately 175 schools across Colorado participated in the program last year, making it the largest student-led Make-A-WIsh fundraising program in the country and raised enough for more than a third of the wishes Make-A-Wish Colorado granted.
