Halifax teens Kassy Gilkie, Mary
Wickwire, Matthew Wickwire, Hannah
Gautreau and Sheila MacNeil left for
Poland on April 23 to fulfill the 1,000th
wish for an organization that grants
wishes to terminally ill children. The
teens are in Poland for 12 days.
Besides working with ill children, the five
will be visiting the site of the infamous
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Five Halifax teens helping terminally ill Polish kids
Mon. Apr 27 - 11:10 AM
The Chronicle Herald
Some Halifax students are spreading cheer among
sick children in Poland.
The five students left Thursday for a 12-day trip with
the Coalition for Kids International of Halifax. The
organization is associated with a Polish charity that
grants wishes to terminally ill children.
The teens will grant wishes in south-eastern Poland
to 12 children on behalf of Fundacja Dziecieca
Fantazja (Children’s Fantasies Fulfilled.)
The group includes Hannah Gautreau and Sheila
MacNeil, Grade 9 students at Gorsebrook Junior
High; Kassy Gilkie and Mary Wickwire, Grade 11
students at J. L. Ilsley High School; and Matthew
Wickwire, a Grade 9 student at Herring Cove Junior
High.
The trip will mark a milestone for the agency; the teens will grant its 1,000th wish since the organization
was created five years ago.
Besides spending time with the wish recipients, the
students will visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau
concentration camp and other historical sites in
Poland.
"Our Journeys of a Lifetime program is about showing
our kids the world beyond Canada," said Kamila
Rybicka, founder and president of the Coalition for
Kids International, who will chaperone the students.
"It’s about the hardships and daily struggles faced by
terminally ill and underprivileged children half a world away."
