About Us
The Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Middle Tennessee grants the wishes of children who have reached the age of 2 1/2 and are under 18 years old, and have life-threatening medical conditions, to enrich their human experience with hope, strength and joy. The imaginations of children referred to us serve as the backbone of our organization. There are four types of wishes the children choose from:
* I wish to go
* I wish to be
* I wish to have
* I wish to meet
For a child to be eligible for a wish he or she must be referred by a doctor, social worker, parents, or they can even refer themselves. The doctor must sign a document stating that the child has a life-threatening illness.
* The Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Middle Tennessee serves 38 counties in the Middle Tennessee area, granting between 80 and 100 wishes each year. To see the counties served click here.
* The staff at the Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Middle Tennessee consists of only 4 full-time and 2 part-time employees. We rely on volunteers to help make wishes come true.
* More than 100 Middle Tennessee volunteers are wish granters, trained to help grant wishes of deserving children.
* 100% of the funds raised by the Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Middle Tennessee stays in Middle Tennessee
* 82% of every dollar donated to the Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Middle Tennessee goes into making these wishes come true.
* The average cost of a wish is about $6,000.
* Donors can Adopt-A-Wish to designate that 100% of the funds donated goes toward the adopted wish.
* More than 750 wishes have been granted in Middle Tennessee since the chapter was founded in 2000.
* Frequent Flier miles are one unique way to support our mission. It takes about 150,000 miles to send a family to Disney World.
About The Make-A-Wish Foundation ®
Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® has given hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions. From our humble beginnings with one boy’s wish to be a police officer, we’ve evolved into an organization that grants a child’s wish in the United States and its territories every 40 minutes. The Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 65 chapters in the United States and its territories.
The Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation® is the youngest Make-a-Wish Chapter in the country. The chapter recently won national awards for Performance Excellence and for the 2008 Infinite Wish – Chase Donnell’s Wish to Renovate His School Gymnasium.
To refer a child with a life-threatening medical condition, call 615-259-2324 Ext 111. Individuals can make donations or donate frequent flyer miles at www.midtnwishes.org, call 615-259-2324 Ext 115, or send donations to The Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Middle Tennessee, 209 10th Avenue South, Suite 527, Nashville, TN, 37203.
Who We Are
Board of Directors:
President: Mr. John Dwyer, WKRN
Vice President: Mr. Kevin Smith, Advent Land
Treasurer: Mr. Jeff Lynch, Summit Financial Group
Secretary: Mr. John Von Arb, Nissan North America
Laura Allen, American Red Cross
Steve Barry, President, J&A Integrated Thinking
Allison DeMarcus, Television Host
Ben Hanback, President, The Hanback Group
Joey Hemphill, Chairman and Treasurer, Hemphill Brothers Coach Co.
Randy Hoffman, Partner, Halo Properties, LLC
Kerrie Johnson, Community Volunteer
John Kuttesch, Jr. Md., PhD, VCH at VUMC
Sandra Lipman, Community Volunteer
Hugh Lombardi, General Manager, The Sommet Center
Joyce McDaniel, Partner, The Ferrell McDaniel Company
Samantha Owens, PR Director, cabedge.com
Travis Parham, Attorney, Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis
Alan Scarboro, VP Small Business Relationships, First Tennessee Bank
Kevin Smith, Owner, Advent Land Corporation
John Steele, Senior VP Human Resources, HCA
Kevin Carter, Honorary Member, former Tennessee Titan
Kevin Sharp, Honorary Member, Recording Artist and former wish child
Make-A-Wish of Middle TN Advisory Council
Bob Parks
Jack Miller
Steve Simpson
Jeff Fisher
Fletcher Foster
Office Staff:
Michelle Jerome Rosen, Executive Director
(615) 259-2324 x 110; mrosen@middletennessee.wish.org
Tanya Sturm, Director of Program Services
(615) 259-2324 x 111; tanya@middletennessee.wish.org
Patricia Ledford, Director of Development & Communications
(615) 259-2324 x 112; pledford@middletennessee.wish.org
Leslie Rayfield, Director of Finance & Operations
(615) 259-2324 x 113; jlovejoy@middletennessee.wish.org
Jann Seymour, Assistant Director of Operations & Events
(615) 259-2324 x 114; jseymour@middletennessee.wish.org
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Middle Tennessee
209 10th Ave. South, Suite 527
Nashville, TN 37203
