Christmas letters help fulfill sick kids’ fondest dreams

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

What began for Anthony Amadeo as a kindergarten letter-writing campaign to Santa to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation, has grown to a goal of mailing 500,000 letters to raise $1 million for sick children.

“As long as I can remember, I have been putting letters in a mailbox at Macy’s for Santa, but it wasn’t until kindergarten when my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer that I learned the meaning” of cancer and how each letter raised money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, said Anthony, 12, a sixth grader at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Chalmette.

“It bothered me that children, just like adults, have to fight cancer. I felt that I needed to do something to help,” Anthony said.

He started with his kindergarten class, progressed to the whole grade, his entire Our Lady of Prompt Succor School in Chalmette and now other schools in St. Bernard Parish.

On Dec. 3, Anthony with his family – mom Brandie, dad Anthony, sister Addisyn, 10, and brother Aiden, 8 – visited Macy’s Lakeside to deposit a total of 2,009 letters in a special mailbox that Macy’s Lakeside has erected outside its toy department. (Coincidentally, 2009 was the year Anthony was born.) The letters were written from children attending Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Elementary in Chalmette, Meraux Elementary, Arabi Elementary, Gauthier Elementary and Chalmette Middle, Anthony said.

Anthony was able to see the fruits of his labor when he met Avery Alfortish, 10, a Holy Cross fifth grader who is a recipient of a wish granted for a trip to the beach with his family through Make-A-Wish. Avery had a brain tumor that was removed, and he has undergone radiation and chemotherapy.

“I think this is so great,” Danielle Alfortish, Avery’s mom, said about Anthony’s efforts. “It brings a sense of happiness and joy to patients whose families are filled with fear and worry with their struggles and illnesses.”

One person makes difference
While his mom’s illness taught him the seriousness of cancer and inspired him to want to help others because so many helped his mom, Anthony got the idea to work with the Make-A-Wish campaign after seeing a young boy, Luke Hoag, being interviewed during a Macy’s parade on television as a child who had received a wish from the Make-A-Wish. The foundation located Luke for Anthony, and, for the first five years, Anthony sent the letters he collected to Luke for him to mail through Macy’s to earn $2 a letter for Make-A-Wish.

When Luke stopped participating a few years ago, Anthony said he decided to continue, expanding his efforts to the lofty goal of 500,000. He estimated he had collected approximately 1,100 letters before the Dec. 3 donation of approximately 2,000 more.

Make-A-Wish partnered with Macy’s in 2003 and has since raised upwards of $137 million – $25 million alone through the annual “Believe” campaign.

Macy’s Believe campaign is based on the New York Sun’s 1897 editorial, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” The annual campaign between Nov. 1-Dec. 24 invites believers of all ages to write Santa letters.

Macy’s is Make-A-Wish’s largest corporate partner in dollars raised, said Angela Garza, director of corporate engagement for Make-A-Wish Foundation. The money has allowed Make-A-Wish to grant over 16,200 wishes.

Each of the local chapters, such as the Make-A-Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana, benefits from local Macy’s contributions through the “Believe” campaign. Locally, the campaign raises between $100,000-$200,000 to grant wishes of locally sick children. In the 2020-21 year, the local chapter granted 415 wishes, Garza said. There are 59 Make-A-Wish chapters nationwide.

“That is a lot during a pandemic,” said community development and marketing coordinator Erin Joubert.

Anthony mailed the letters to Santa during Macy’s National Believe Week Nov. 28-Dec. 4, a time when Macy’s doubles its contributions from $1 to $2 for each letter to Make-A-Wish.

“We hear stories like Anthony’s, but nothing quite like Anthony’s since he is so young and how he rallied the community,” Garza said.

Anthony continues to collect letters to Santa through Dec. 31. To participate,  send letters to Macy’s Lakeside, 3301 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Suite 55, Metairie, LA 70002, attention of Caitlin Macmanus, general manager, in care of Anthony Amadeo.

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