(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with our long time friend Tom Weatherall, who's the President and Chief Executive Officer of Make-A-Wish New Jersey, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Good to see you, Tom.

- Great seeing you, Steve.

- You got it.

Hey, listen, website's up right now.

Tell everyone what Make-A-Wish is, and we'll also get into some of the misconceptions about what it is and what it's not.

- Sure.

Sure.

Thanks, Steve.

Yeah, it's simple.

It's our mission statement.

It's one sentence.

Together we create life changing wishes for children with critical illnesses together.

Steve, we can't do it without the community.

As you know, as a long time friend of ours, Steve, we don't charge our families any fees.

And we don't receive any government support, so we rely a hundred percent on the benevolence of the community.

And how fortunate are we to operate here in New Jersey with one of the most generous communities throughout the country.

- You know, we were talking about this Tom recently with our good friends up at Fedway.

We do a leadership academy there.

We coach and talk about leadership in the not-for-profit community and Tom came in to do a presentation with us, which was great.

But one of the things that struck me in that conversation, Tom, was, in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Make-A-Wish, the New Jersey chapter of Make-A-Wish has grown exponentially.

Describe where it was, where it is, and how the heck are you thriving as a not-for-profit in these incredibly challenging times?

- Yeah, I love that question, Steve.

I appreciate that.

So we're in our 40th anniversary, right?

And if we break it down to the first 30 years operating mostly out of Elizabeth New Jersey for the first eight or so, and the next 22 years out of Union, New Jersey.

And in these very small restrictive back office operations, that didn't lend themselves to our mission, to our brand, to the power of our mission, to engaging the community in deeper, more meaningful ways.

And it really did nothing to help our wish kids when we're conducting the wish interview for them to explore the possibilities of a wish.

And so back in 2012, we opened this beautiful castle, The Samuel & Josephine Plumeri Wishing Place.

- Describe the castle.

It's extraordinary, - It's been transformative for us, Steve.

When we break down our wish count over this time, just a little more than 12,000 wishes, in the first 30 years we granted roughly 6,500 of those wishes in our first 30, in the last 12 we've almost matched that count, just shy of 6,000 just here in a little more than a decade in the castle.

So we matched almost three decades of work in just one decade here out of the castle.

Had it not been for the pandemic, we would've blown those numbers away.

And how we've done it, Steve, is engaging, again, engaging the community.

We knew this castle, which is still first of its kind nationally within the Make-A-Wish Enterprise, Steve, the next one is coming online in South Florida in Miami later this year, in a few months, I believe by the end of this quarter.

But what it's done for us, it's allowed us to, we knew in the first three months when we had more visitors, more visitors in 2012, in the first three months of operating in the castle, more visitors than in the entire 18, 20 years out of the Union building.

And so it's now a destination, it's a place where our kids, our family, sometimes the living room or hospital room, Steve, is not the most conducive space to explore the power of a wish.

- Yeah, one of the things that struck me, we were down in Atlantic City and I told you, we've talked about this before.

You weren't able to be there that night I know that, we were in Atlantic City a couple years ago and there was a young woman, her wish was to go see the Rolling Stones.

And I remember she not only saw the Rolling Stones, but hung out with Mick Jagger and it was incredible.

That's just one thing and we had her on the air talking about that wish.

But give us a wish that really stands out in the last year that is representative of all the other wishes, the 12,000 plus wishes that have been granted.

Please, Tom.

- Sure Steve, and you've met so many of them.

And you were referencing Erin who brought down the room, brought down the house that night in Atlantic City, right?

But most recently, let me tell you about a milestone wish over the summer recently, our 12,000th wish.

And this was for a young man from South Jersey, battling thalassemia, it's a genetic blood disorder, Steve.

Judah, 18 years old, when we asked him if you could have one wish, Judah, what would it be?

He asked for a tractor, Steve, a tractor.

In all my years, I just started my 22nd year here, Steve.

I have to pinch myself sometimes, but I can tell you I don't recall us ever doing a tractor wish.

- That's the first tractor, Tom?

That was the first tractor wish?

- You and I didn't have these in Hudson and Essex counties growing up, Steve.

- No, they don't allow tractors, but go ahead.

So Judah wanted the tractor.

Go ahead.

- Judah and his family lived down in Salem.

They have a couple of acres and it was so important to Judah to help his father, help his father with, the family plants crops.

And they really are self-sustaining on the family property.

He's got seven siblings, eight kids, mom and dad.

Judah and a few of his sisters were adopted from China.

And one of his sisters also a wish child of ours, Josanna, who asked to go to Disney and brought the family to Disney.

But you know, in speaking with Judah and getting to know him, Steve, as we get to know these kids and their families, what his mom shared with us was so powerful to us that when he got the tractor home and after a couple of days with it, she said that he was talking about his future.

He wasn't talking about his illness anymore.

He was talking about his future and he was talking, you know, he's planting crops, Steve and crops take time.

And she said, really, for the first time in a long time, he was talking about he'll be here in six months or even a year from now when that next crop comes up.

And that's the power of a wish, huh?

- Before I let you go, Tom, I've asked you this privately a lot and I've asked you on the air, but for those who've never seen or heard Tom Weatherall, what has it done for you to see these wishes being granted to these children?

And it's life changing for so many of them, and some of them have not survived and most of them are thriving now.

What has it done for you?

30 seconds or less, go ahead.

- Steve, it's powerful.

It has changed my life.

It's left a profound effect on me.

But you know, Steve, it's on the entire team.

I watch as our team, as they come on, they come on board, they go through orientation or our board members, donors.

It resonates, our volunteers.

It resonates because, you know, Steve, this isn't a warm and fuzzy.

You know this from being so long, a friend of our mission and always loaning us this wonderful platform of yours, but that it's not just a warm and fuzzy.

Wishes have impact.

And they help children, studies tell us that a hundred percent of medical providers report that a wish improves a child's wellbeing.

90% say a child is more ready to accept treatment protocols.

And so, you know, we're working with children who are at the dawn of life and it's pretty profound when they're looking at their own mortality.

Even those who might not be aware of that, surely their parents are their family, their siblings are.

So how can it not affect us as well and lend perspective to our own lives?

- 40th anniversary of Make-A-Wish New Jersey, the leader, the CEO and President is Tom Weatherall.

Tom, this platform that you refer to us loaning to you is open so we can continue the conversation and make sure people understand what Make-A-Wish is and how they can be helpful.

All the best, Tom.

Thanks buddy.

- Thank you Steve.

Always grateful to you.

Bye-Bye.

- You got it.

Stay there, we'll be right back folks.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Fedway Associates, Inc. Valley Bank.

The North Ward Center.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Atlantic Health System.

And by the Adler Aphasia Center.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ.

And by Meadowlands Media.

- Hello, I’m Donald Payne, Jr.

Congressman for New Jersey’s 10th District.

One organ and tissue donor can save as many as eight lives, and improve the health of another additional 75 people.

That is why I encourage everyone to register as an organ donor.

For more information about organ donation, please visit www.NJSharingNetwork.org