What is “Swim to a Wish”?: In short, 5 swim team members get together and swim a 100-mile relay with each leg of the relay being 1 mile long, each swimmer swims 20 times. The relay is continuous throughout the weekend. Swimmers can receive flat donations, or they can get donations per mile. Teams can also choose to have 10 swimmers swim 10 miles each.

History: In 2013 the Campus High School (Wichita, KS) Boys swimmers wanted to do a charity fundraiser and partnered with the Make-A-Wish® Foundation. With a quick turnaround, Swim to a Wish raised over $5,700.00. In 2014, the team was challenged by an anonymous donor that would match up to $6,000.00. The team made their goal and donated over $12,000.00 to Make-A-Wish. Last year, Swim to a Wish raised $35,777, bringing the total funds raised to over $310,000 to date. With your help this event can continue to grow, granting even more life-changing wishes to local children battling critical illnesses.

Dates: The “Swim to a Wish” Fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Missouri & Kansas will be held on February 28 to March 2nd, 2025. This year’s challenge is to get at least 4 teams to earn $5,000.00 each. This year “Swim to a Wish” will start at 4:15 pm on Friday, February 28th and will go through Sunday, March 2nd, depending on when the participating teams finish their 100 miles.

How it works: Five swimmers will swim a 100-mile relay. Each leg of the relay is 71 lengths of a 25-yard pool. When the person in the water touches length 71, the next leg starts at the opposite end of the pool. The first 19 miles for each swimmer will be 71 lengths which are just a little over 1 mile. The last mile for each swimmer will be 59 lengths. There is always one swimmer in the water.