With holiday music in the air, long lines at the registers, and glittering decorations, there is nothing quite like shopping this time of the year. However, what really decks the halls of our shopping centers with holly during the holiday season are the generous and selfless organizations that help make the wishes of so many come true.
This year, my friends at the Make-A-Wish Foundation are bringing their Season of Wishes to a shopping center near you. Now while you are getting your holiday shopping done at The Grove or The Americana at Brand, you can be a part of something singularly spectacular. The amazing people at the Make A Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles have brought their sixth annual “Season of Wishes,” a five week celebration that shares the powerful experience of making a child’s wish come true, to the people of Los Angeles at both The Grove and the Americana.
Along with local Los Angeles businesses, like my friends at NorthStar Moving®, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles’s, Season of Wishes, strives to raise awareness of the foundation’s work and encourage community involvement in bringing joy into a child’s life. This holiday campaign, from November 23 to December 23, features weekly wish celebrations each Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm at The Grove (Tuesdays) and The Americana at Brand (Thursdays).
As the preferred mover of the Americana at Brand and a great supporter of the Make A Wish Foundation, my friends at NorthStar Moving® are getting things moving for the 2010 Season of Wishes celebration, and we are thankful for the opportunity it gives us to experience the joy of giving. I encourage everyone to visit the Americana or the Grove and experience a wish celebration for themselves. Get your holiday shopping done early, grab a hot cocoa, find a seat near the giant glimmering Christmas tree and feel the contagious joy that a wish come true brings to the children and their families, and I promise you will be inspired by their stories.
Here is just a tiny sample of offerings from additional businesses in the community participating in the season of wishes:
Holiday Cookie Decorating at Panera Bread
Get your free cookie! On sunny Saturday, December 11, Stores in Thousand Oaks (9-12), LaVerne (2-5pm), La Canada (2-5pm), Lakewood (11am-2pm), Cerritos (9am-12pm), La Habra (9am-12pm) and Torrance (2-5pm) will provide free cookie decorating for children, ages 12 and under. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Greater Los Angeles chapter. If you don’t see your local Panera Bread on this list call them to ask as more locations may be added. I called mine and they were incredibly nice with providing the info.
I have yet to find a person who can say no to a cupcake. They’re just too cute and sweet with all the colors swirling and the sugar that makes you swirl after you eat them!
Visit Yummy Cupcakes from Nov. 23-Dec. 23. Purchase a wish star or their special Make-A-Wish cupcake where 50 percent of the proceeds will benefit the Foundation. They will also be at hand to give away cupcakes at the Grove on Tuesdays and the Americana at Brand on Thursdays.
Macy’s stores will feature Believe stations where shoppers can write letters to Santa. For each letter, Macy’s is pledging a $1 donation, up to $1 million, to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation nationally.
See more imaginative ways to give on the Season of Wishes page.
We will be at the beautiful Americana at Brand December 9th and 16th for two special wish ceremonies and would love to for you to show your holiday spirit and support this great cause. For more information on Season of Wishes events or how to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation please visit Season of Wishes page. Also check out the official media partners for the 2010 Season of Wishes campaign, FOX 11, and FishbowlLA, to learn more about each wish child and their wishes.
