According to Make-A-Wish Alabama, 300 children between the ages of 2 and 18 are waiting to have their wish come true. There are nearly 100 in North Alabama alone.

Yet only 15 North Alabamians are actively registered and working to make those wishes come true, according to Limestone County volunteer Lacy Fitzpatrick. It’s a fact Make-A-Wish Alabama hopes to change next week.

For the first time ever, the organization will be hosting an information and orientation session to raise awareness of the critical need for volunteers in the area.

“Usually volunteers come in to us after meeting someone from Make-A-Wish or hearing someone speak at a Kiwanis meeting or something, but our need is so great right now,” said Valerie Gerber, director of development and marketing for Make-A-Wish Alabama. “It’s such a critical thing that we can’t wait for people to hear about us through more passive means.”

The free session is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, June 25, at Topgolf in Huntsville. Those who attend can fill out an application and learn more about being a wish-granter. If they pass the application process and a background check, they’ll receive the opportunity to attend a wish-granter training at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 30.

“Once they’re trained, they get access to the list and can sign up for a child,” Gerber said.

Gerber said they will need at least 45 new volunteers in North Alabama to get back on track. For Make-A-Wish Alabama, the North Alabama region encompasses 14 counties and stretches from the Shoals to Cullman, Gerber said.

Each child requires two volunteers to help them figure out their wish, why it is important to have the mission come true, what has to be done to make the wish medically appropriate and set the wheels in motion. Gerber said the first visit may take an hour or two, but visits after that are generally an hour per month plus contact with Make-A-Wish Alabama staff to provide updates on the child’s health and the wish.

“We want people to sign up for two to three wishes a year,” Gerber said. “It takes 12-18 months to grant a wish, so you can easily work on multiple at a time.”

Fitzpatrick, who began volunteering in 2016 and serves on the North Alabama Council for Make-A-Wish Alabama, said she is working on multiple wishes right now, and she recently saw her first ever wish from beginning to end.

“(The wish kid and I) met last August for the first time,” Fitzpatrick said. “The wish was to go to (Walt) Disney World, so we did all the paperwork, got it turned in and she went at the end of April and had an amazing time.”

About 40 percent of wishes involve Disney trips. In Limestone County, three of the eight kids on the Make-A-Wish list want to travel outside the continental U.S. for their wish. One hopes to visit Paris, while another wants to visit a Hawaiian resort and the third wishes to visit her grandmother in Vietnam.

Gerber said the wishes are known because they have volunteers. The other five in Limestone County are still waiting on someone to help their wish become known.

“Something like this can really change a child with a critical illness,” Fitzpatrick said. “It can give them hope, give them something to look forward to.”

A 2011 study found a combined 89 percent of doctors, nurses and health professionals said they believe a wish experience can influence a child’s physical health, with parents and medical professionals alike describing the experience as a frequent turning point in a wish kid’s battle for health.

Ninety-nine percent of parents in the study reported the wish experience giving their child increased feelings of happiness. Ninety-six percent said the wish experience strengthened their families.

Volunteers aren’t limited in where or how many wishes they help grant, either. Gerber said one Limestone County volunteer has granted 37 wishes in her five years with the organization. She said she also knows a couple who grants wishes together, sometimes driving three or four hours to meet with a waiting child.

“It really just depends on what the volunteer wants to put into it,” Gerber said.

Anyone who wishes to learn more about volunteering but can’t make the meeting is encouraged to check out http://alabama.wish.org/ways-to-help/volunteering. There is also information available on the website for those who wish to donate to the organization in other ways.