A Clovis family raised $30,000 to donate to the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Jim and Kim Kennedy along with their son Logan, held a fundraiser at their house in the well known Candy Cane Lane neighborhood.
The fundraiser took place on Sunday Dec. 22. The family had popcorn, hot chocolate, and a Santa photo booth. All the proceeds going towards the fundraiser.
Jim and Kim Kennedy moved into their house in the year 2000. In 2001, the couple decided to do a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish, raising $11,000 in one night. During that time a Wish was about $3,500 so they were able to grant three wishes.
In 2002 and 2003, the Kennedy’s held fundraisers for different organizations. The following year the couple took a break, as they had their son Logan.
Now that their son is 13 years old, they decided it would be a good time to start a fundraiser again.
“We thought it would be really cool to do another fundraising event so that our son and his friends could help and participate and get involved with giving back to our community,” Kim Kennedy said.
The family decided to fundraise for Make-A-Wish again, as they knew Casey Rossini, a regional council member for Make-A-Wish.
To prepare for the event the Kennedy’s and Rossini’s teamed up to send out emails to friends, family, and coworkers as well as passing out flyers to local businesses.
They even got together and built a large ‘Candy Cane Lane’ sign for the pictures with Santa. With rain in the forecast the Kennedy’s were prepared, setting up canopies for coverage.
Despite the rain, it was a successful turnout. People stopped by the house for hot chocolate, popcorn, and a picture with Santa. Others passing by dropped money off in the donation box.
“I can’t even tell you how many people we met, who either stopped by, or went up to take a picture, or rolled down their window and told us that they themselves or a child family member was a past Wish recipient,” Kim Kennedy said. “It was super heartwarming to meet all these people that were like I was a Wish kid or my sister, or my son, or my daughter was.”
Originally they had the goal of raising $7,500, which is the average cost of one wish. With help from the community and other anonymous big donors they were able to raise $30,000 which is enough to grant four wishes.
“We were blown away, we didn’t expect that. We were really just hoping to be able to say we helped grant one wish and to now be at four wishes we were amazed,” Kim Kennedy said.