Wish-Granting Charities Change Their Policies

The Make-A-Wish Foundation and other groups like it are broadening their policies and are now granting “wishes” to people who are not terminally ill, reports Knight Ridder Newspapers.

Begun in the 1980’s to grant the wishes of dying children, the popularity of wish-granting charities has skyrocketed in recent years. There are now more than 150 chapters of such groups in the United States, and 30 countries operate similar charities. But as donations pour into these groups, the charities’ officials are facing an enviable problem: They have too much money.

At the same time, the death rate among children ages 1 to 14 has been dropping—down 50 percent from 1980 to 2003—because of major improvements in medical science. In response, many of the charities are now granting wishes to a much broader group of children and adults, including many who will recover from an illness, a car accident, or a burn.