Fremont kids help raise money for Make-a-Wish

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- Hundreds of students in Fremont wrote letters to Santa, asking him to grant a wish to sick kids as part of the Make-a-Wish campaign.

"I wished about my family and friends," student Myracle Culclager said.

Student Dylan Couse added, "That my mom and dad have a great time in their life and not have to struggle with it."

And student Matthew Gonzalez wished, "For all the children to stay away from the hospital and feel better about themselves."

Those are only a few of the thousands of kids in Fremont who wrote a wish on a piece of paper. The project was organized by Claudine Dentoni, their 2nd grade teacher at Azevada Elementary School.

"It could be people close to them, it could be the children from Make-a-Wish," Dentoni said. "Some of the kids wrote about what they wished for Obama."

For each letter, Macy's donated $2 to the Make-a- Wish Foundation. The organization grants wishes to kids with life threatening medical conditions like Shelbi Zeien. She arrived in a limo and had a shopping spree at Macy's in Walnut Creek Friday before flying off in January to meet Justin Bieber.

Students in the Fremont School District managed and their parents managed to write more than 41,000 letters.

"Well sometimes when I do it my hands hurt," Culclager said. "But I keep one doing it because I want kids to get out of the hospital."

The Make-a-Wish Foundation will now receive more than $80,000 which will be spent on granting wishes to about eight sick children.

"You're really sick and you are in pain and you don't have much to do and you can't go out anywhere," student Nina Singh said.

Principal Carole Diamond adds, "We want our kids to learn to pay it forward, to think of others first and plus we are getting them to write."

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fremont, children, macy's, east bay news, lyanne melendez

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