Skip to Content
/ Articles / Community /

Richie’s Wish

Story written by Lester Wills

Dec 13, 2019

Richie’s Wish is a foundation built to honor the memory and the legacy of Richie – an amazing young man whose short life touched many people.

This foundation aspires to provide toys and play spaces for children in foster care – a cause that was near and dear to Richie’s heart.

Richie passed away in 2018 at the age of 23 from complications of Cystic Fibrosis.

Richie’s short life was far from easy. In addition to a life long battle with Cystic Fibrosis (a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breath over time) his life was further complicated by his placement in foster care at the age of 11. Richie spent 1390 days in foster care before being adopted at the age of 14.

One of Richie’s greatest frustrations about his time in foster care was the lack of opportunity for him to play or have access to age appropriate toys. The day he was removed from his birth home he was only allowed a few minutes to pack and the only ‘toy’ he was able to take was his childhood teddy bear.

His years in foster care were marked by multiple moves and with each move he would loose any possessions he had accumulated. During the last year of his life Richie worked with a local foster care closet to create programs that would improve foster parents’ access to new toys for the children in their care. He helped to create a birthday program providing new toys to children celebrating their birthday in foster care and an Angel Tree program that provided Christmas gifts to over 200 children in foster care.

We are distributing gifts this year on December 14th when foster parents will come to collect gifts requested by their foster children. Richie’s Wish is honoring a very special young man who passed away at an early age by providing Christmas gifts to children in foster care, kids who often have very little to celebrate on Christmas.

Learn more About Richie’s Wish, how to support and volunteer, and this year’s incredible gift donation program at https://www.richieswish.org/

We need your support!

Your contribution makes community media possible.

A donation of any size to your nonprofit media organization supports the future of media access in our community - the things you love, and the places you care about, by the people you know.

Live Streaming