MIDLAND, Texas —
Eight-year-old Jaelynn Garcia was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at an early age and recently wished to go to Disney World.
So, Make-A-Wish West Texas went to work and started reaching out to community partners for help fulfilling Jaelynn’s wish, one of which was Betenbough Homes of Midland.
“So here at Betenbough Homes, we offer community grants; we want to give back to our community, the communities that we build in, and so we actually have a community grant process. So, Make-A-Wish, they applied for a community grant," said Maurie Bratcher, connection specialist at Betenbough Homes of Midland. "We took that to our team here at Betenbough here in Midland, and they voted to fully fund a wish for a child here in Midland.”
On Friday, Betenbough Homes hosted a celebration event full of family friendly activities and a lunch. It was all to commemorate the collective impact of the community and dedicated partners in fulfilling the mission of Make-A-Wish and getting Jaelynn's wish fulfilled.
According to Make-A-Wish, they go above and beyond to do what they can to make a wish happen and they know that they can’t always do it alone.
“For all of us who serve Make-A-Wish and work the mission of granting these life changing wishes, there's no words and we couldn't do what we do as an organization without our partners, like Betenbough and so many others here in the West Texas community,” said Alicia Menard, development manager for Make-A-Wish West Texas.
However, all this work is worth it if it means putting a smile on the faces of kids like Jaelynn and giving them the chance to experience things they’ve always wanted to in life.
“It was just very emotional to see, you know, strangers just willing to give others, you know, a wish that she's been wanting to do and wanting to take," said Veronica Garcia, Jaelynn's mother. "So, it's just a blessing and a mix of emotions. Like I said, we were very happy, but then also very emotional that it's it was actually happening for us.”
Jaelynn and her family will be going to Disney World in October of 2024.