New equipment already being used to raise funds on Maui
HONOLULU, HI- In partnership with generous community donors and local Maui volunteers, Make-A-Wish Hawaii recently granted the wish of a Wailuku girl battling cancer. Interested in content creation, 15-year-old Puanani, who goes by Pua, wished to have her own videography equipment. Due to COVID-19, Make-A-Wish Hawaii staff on Oahu were unable to attend the wish granting, so two Maui volunteers worked to bring her wish to life.
The two volunteers, Jennifer McNeff and Nikki Yamamoto, conducted virtual visits with Pua and her family over the past few months to discover her wish. Thanks to a donation from local donors Steven and Karen Sato, Make-A-Wish Hawaii then purchased a suite of videography equipment and had it shipped to Maui, where McNeff and Yamamoto wrapped each piece. Pua and her family arrived at The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas, Ka’anapali shortly after for a socially distant wish reveal with Jen and Nikki, where Pua unwrapped and tested out her new equipment on the grounds of the hotel.
Since the wish granting, Pua has already been hard at work creating content, including a short video for her school to use for a fundraiser in Pua’s honor.
“Pua lit up with the possibilities: she was ready to dive in to film, to edit, to fly the drone and to create content all at once,” said Pua’s mother, Ellen. “The wonder and excitement was and is great when she gets into creating content. She is able to push through her nausea because she wants to finish her edits and audio. This is a life-changing and life-energizing experience.”
“Although there have been challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pua’s wish is a prime example of how our community is continuing to find safe, innovative ways to grant life-changing wishes for Hawaii children with critical illnesses,” said Make-A-Wish Hawaii Director of Mission Delivery Kari Bogner. “We couldn’t be prouder of Jen and Nikki for all the dedication and heart they showed in executing this wish for Pua.”Â
Make-A-Wish Hawaii would like to thank Steven and Karen Sato, Jennifer McNeff and Nikki Yamamoto, The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas, Ka’anapali, Nathan Strubhar and Sunlit Films, Anna Kim Photography and associate Nicole, and all who came together to make Pua’s wish possible.
To learn more about Make-A-Wish Hawaii, visit hawaii.wish.org.
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About Make-A-Wish Hawaii
Make-A-Wish® Hawaii creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We seek to bring every eligible child’s wish to life, because a wish is an integral part of a child’s treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight their illness. Headquartered in Honolulu, Make-A-Wish Hawaii is considered one of the top charities in the state, with 76 cents of every dollar raised going directly toward granting wishes in Hawaii. One of the first local Make-A-Wish chapters established, Make-A-Wish Hawaii continues to be among the busiest in the nation. Together, generous donors, supporters, staff and more than 700 volunteers have granted nearly 1,500 wishes for children across the state of Hawaii since 1982 and have hosted more than 16,000 others for children around the world; the chapter granted 98 local wishes in 2019 alone. For more information about Make-A-Wish Hawaii, visit Hawaii.wish.org.