Wishes come true for Cedar Rapids kids from Taylor
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Written by Adam Belz, published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on 1/4/10
CEDAR RAPIDS — Caitlyn Hicks got to buy herself some late Christmas presents on Sunday thanks to the Taylor 3 Wish Club.
“I got a jacket, a Webkinz, and some bracelets, and some cards,” Caitlyn, 10, said.
Her brother Quinton, 12, picked out a book and an Xbox game.
A club started by Washington High School students has made it a priority to try to brighten the lives of students who attend Taylor Elementary School, hit hard by the flood of 2008.
Quinton and Caitlyn were two of 55 Taylor kids who received a $50 Target gift card from the 3 Wish Club. They got to buy whatever they wanted Sunday afternoon at the Target on Blairs Ferry Road NE.
“They were just delighted, and it was really awesome to see,” Hannah Wheeler, 17, president of the Taylor 3 Wish Club, said. “It was my last day of break. It was the best way I ever could have spent it.”
The last 18 months have been hard for the children who go to Taylor School, and the Hicks kids have been no exception. Their home near the Police Station was flooded in June 2008, and their school was closed for the 2008-09 school year.
At least one of the families shopping Sunday hadn’t been able to celebrate Christmas this year, and the gift card provided the only presents the kids received.
Wheeler and Kestrel Henry, 17, started the 3 Wish Club in 2008 after the flood and before Taylor School reopened. They thought the school’s closure would be particularly hard on the students, and asked each child who attended the school for at least half the previous school year to tell them three wishes: one big, one medium and one small.
The club since has granted about 60 wishes, and used leftover money to buy the gift cards for Sunday. The donations came from local businesses and individuals, teachers and students at Washington. A few donations came from as far away as California.
Sunday’s spree probably was the last thing the club will do. Wheeler and Henry plan to give what money is left to Taylor for school supplies or something else.
“To see the kids’ faces light up, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen,” Wheeler said. “That’s what the club is all about. That makes it all worth it.”
Taylor School Reopens
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Brian Christoffersen doesn’t have to describe how Taylor Elementary School families feel about the new school year.
He sees it.
“It’s more than what they say — it’s how they act, what they feel,” said Christoffersen, Taylor’s principal. “They’re excited.”
Taylor opens its doors for the 2009-10 school year today after last June’s flood forced the school to close for 2008-09. The Taylor community has held tight to the knowledge that the school would reopen.
“The neighborhood association is called the Taylor Neighborhood Association,” Christoffersen said. “The school has always been the center of the neighborhood.”
And with the center back, the possibilities are endless. Parent Interventionist J Knight said he saw such opportunity after the floodwaters receded.
“Out of all the tragedy and all the bad things that happened, I saw the possibility for what we could accomplish when everyone comes together,” he said. “During the last year, we were able to plan, think innovatively about what we could do.”
Those plans have resulted in an improved fitness trail around the school and butterfly garden. Taylor will soon have a greenhouse and rain garden.
Taylor also partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to expand its before and after school program. The Tiger Club, pre-flood, could serve only 50 students. Christoffersen said there always was a waiting list.
The new Boys and Girls Club Tiger Club Unit will serve 100 students and includes an expanded enrichment program.
More than 200 students in kindergarten through fifth grade will attend Taylor this year.
The school also has two preschool classrooms, each with a 20-student capacity.
The preschool program already has a waiting list and enrollment is expected to increase as more paperwork is filed.
School staff aren’t surprised by the numbers.
“Students and families are returning to a place where they are comfortable,” said Peggy Linden, Taylor’s family support worker. “We serve generations of families.”
Taylor students attended elementary schools throughout the district last year. Christoffersen said the year away progressed as well as could be expected.
“Kids are resilient,” Christoffersen said. “They went to new schools last year. They made new friends, they did their best, but there’s something about going home — sleeping in your own bed and going to your school.”
Taylor-Made Wishes
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F AIRFAX, Nov 14, 2008 — If Care Bears could fight, there would have been some purple and pink stuffed animal fur flying in the Moeller household last night.
Nine-year-old Alicia, the daughter of Dee Moeller, collects the stuffed animals.
She stacks a group of them at the foot of her bed. Every night, one lucky bear gets to sleep at the head of the bed with her.
On Thursday, Alicia was given three more Care Bears to add to her collection of 64. She was not sure which of the two larger bears she would curl up with later.
The gifts to Alicia and her siblings were the first wishes granted by the Washington-Taylor Three Wish Club, run by Cedar Rapids Washington High School students. They were delivered by Hannah Wheeler, Spencer Micka and Kestrel Henry, all 16.
The Washington students hope to bring joy into the lives of the roughly 250 students who used to attend Taylor Elementary School.
It flooded and did not open this year.
The older students have asked the children to submit small, medium and large wishes. They want to grant at least one wish per child with the community’s help.
Alicia’s sister, Maddison, 11, received a pair of Heelys — shoes that roll. Her brother, Lance, 6, was given a Ben 10 Alien Creation Chamber.
A what?
Lance explained: “These aliens, you put them in there and they light up and you can see ‘em.” He’ll return to Taylor next year.
The Moeller children had open-enrolled into the Cedar Rapids school district.
Maddison attends Prairie Middle School this year, and the two younger children attend Harrison Elementary.
The club is the brainchild of Wheeler and her dad, Ben Wheeler. Five students consistently attend its meetings. Nearly 200 children have submitted applications with wishes, said Henry, the club’s treasurer.
Taylor Elementary Kids Lose Homes, Possessions, and School in Flood
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This past summer, there was a devastating flood in Iowa, but Cedar Rapids was impacted the most. Hundreds of businesses and homes were destroyed, and Taylor Elementary School was also left in shambles. It had to close, and every child that attended was forced to relocate. The children are dispersed everywhere: to over 50 different schools. Sometimes siblings were even sent to different schools. The Taylor neighborhood was not prosperous to begin with, and now it is in ruin. Besides losing touch with friends, the children of Taylor Elementary also lost their homes and possessions.
The Taylor 3 Wish Club was inspired by a 10 year old boy, Elijah Bahati. Elijah was a friend of Hannah Wheeler’s family (President, Taylor 3 Wish Club). He attended Taylor, and Hannah saw first hand how tough it was for him. Through this inspiration, the Taylor 3 Wish Club got started. The idea is to give every child the opportunity to make three wishes- one big, one medium, and one small. The sky’s the limit! We couldn’t do much about getting their school reopened, but everyone would love to have three wishes!
The organization’s hope is not to turn to local businesses for donations (because the flood decimated the local community), but to make it an international affair. We will try our best to spread the word across the world, and reach kind people willing to donate. People can make a cash donation or select a wish to grant from the list provided on the website.
With the help of Kestrel Henry (a brilliant, caring, and mature young lady), the Internet Marketing Group gladly donated our expertise to launch the website. We’re now asking for your help. If you’re comfortable with the idea, we humbly request you forward this message around the world. One person at a time, and we can make a difference.
On behalf of the Taylor 3 Wish Club, thank you for your consideration.
Jeff McEachron, President
Internet Marketing Group
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
Washington Students to Grant Taylor Kids’ Wishes
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CEDAR RAPIDS - If anyone ever needed a genie in a bottle, it might be the roughly 250 students whose flooded school did not open this year.
Instead of a bottle, Washington High School students have created an application form for the students of Taylor Elementary School, 720 Seventh Ave. SW, to fill out. Taylor flooded 3 feet on its main floor and did not open this school year. School board members want students to return next fall.
The older students are not making any guarantees, but will try to grant wishes to the younger students this school year. They want each child who attended Taylor for at least half the school year last year to tell them three wishes: one big, one medium, and one small.
“Being forced to change schools can be extremely hard as a child,” said Hanna Wheeler, 16. The Washington junior who recently started the Washington-Taylor Three Wish Club. High school club members will do their best to make at least one of the wishes come true by working with area businesses.
“They can wish for something they have lost, or something they have always wanted,” said Wheeler.
Wheeler and her dad, Ben Wheeler, cooked up the idea a few weeks ago. Ben Wheeler’s “little brother” through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids & East Central Iowa, Elijah Bahati, is displaced from Taylor this year.
He was the first to make three wishes. His small wish is for a Nintendo DS game, and his big wish is for a plane ticket to Atlanta to visit his cousin. The middle wish was for “a miniature car he can ride in,” said Hannah Wheeler. His sister, Kiley, wished for the same plane ticket, her own room, and a Nintendo DS.
Wheeler started the club on Facebook — a social networking online site — and more than 100 people signed up. Not all are active members, cautioned Wheeler. She also announced the group over Washington’s intercom earlier this fall, and has worked to further the club through Facebook and the school’s volunteer group, Interact. Wheeler hopes once wishes start rolling in, members of the club will start meeting in person.
Wheeler is asking for adults in Taylor students’ lives to help get displaced Taylor students’ wishes to the club. For an application, visit www.GazetteOnline.com. Later, applications also will be available at Cedar Rapids public elementary schools. They are due Oct. 10.
To donate or for more information, contact the club at: Three Wish Club, Washington High School, 2205 Forest Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403; or Wash-Taylor3WishClub@live.com.*
-Kristina Andino, The Gazette
*Note: current contact e-mail is contact@taylor3wishclub.org.
“3 Wish Club” Helps Displaced Students
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(CEDAR RAPIDS-KWWL) Some high schoolers are becoming “genies.”
Students at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, started the “Wash-Taylor 3 Wish Club” to grant one large, medium, and small wish for Taylor Elementary School students. Taylor is closed for the year and students are spread throughout the district.
A Washington High School junior and her dad actually came up with the idea for the club. They help out with Big Brothers Big Sisters and their “little” brother, Elijah Bahati, is a Taylor student.
10-year-old Bahati was one of the first to put in his wishes.
“One to go to Atlanta, two to get a little car you can drive, three to get a Nintendo DS game,” said Bahati.
The Wash-Taylor 3 Wish Club hopes to grant the wishes of Elijah and other Taylor students.
Washington junior Hannah Wheeler and her dad came up with the club.
“We don’t know what we’re capable of doing right now it just depends on what the child views as a big wish. Elijah I know wants to go to Atlanta to visit his cousin, and I think that’s possible if people donate frequent flyer miles or something like that,” said Hannah Wheeler.
Wheeler and her friend Bailey Sande have already recruited help from more than 125 high school students.
“Help Taylor, let them know nobody forgot about their school. We want to help,” said Bailey Sande.
Now they need help from businesses and the community to fulfill the childrens’ wish lists.
“X-boxes and scooters and Nintendo games,” said Sande.
Any student who attended Taylor for at least one semester last year qualifies for the 3 Wish Club.
“We can’t guarantee every wish will be granted, but we at least want to grant one for every kid. That’s our goal,” said Sande.
To donate to the wish list or sign up to receive wishes, email wash-taylor3wishclub@live.com
–Danielle Wagner, Reporter.
