Wishing for more wishes: Former Make-a-Wish recipient holds snack stand fundraiser

Shay Connell wants to make wishes come true.

Born with a congenital heart defect, Shay, 9, was sent to the premiere of Disney's Descendants 2 last July by the Make-a-Wish Foundation; Monday, she helped organize a lemonade stand fundraiser to give back.

The intersection of Finch Way and Center Streets in Pullman became the site of lively sign waving, cheering, sno-cones and baked goods as well as lemonade Monday afternoon.

By the end of the day, organizers estimated they had raised about $1,756.34 for the Make-a-Wish foundation. It took less than an hour of gathering donations for them to exceed their target amount for funds raised, Shay said.

"(The target) was going to be $200, but I think we've gone a little over," she said, gesturing to a large jar on the edge of the table filled with cash.

Shay said the money was to fulfill future wishes like hers.

"We'll donate all the money that we make to Make-a-Wish," she said.

Kimberly Carper, a volunteer wish-granter who acted as a liaison between Shay's family and the foundation, said her children, Marissa, 12, and Jack, 10, teamed up with Shay to set up and run the stand.

"They became friends with Shay through the wish," Carper said. "They've done fundraisers in the past, and Shay really wanted to do something, so they've decided to get together and do this together."

Shay's mother, Colleen Welter, said the Carper children ran a lemonade stand fundraiser in the past, so they decided to take that idea and expand it to include other offerings beyond lemonade. She said it didn't take long for the little booth to exceed her expectations.

"People are so good, it's just amazing," Welter said. "People are donating baked goods and anything they can - donating their help - and before we even started, I think we had like $50 in our jar. It starts with a good cause, but it's great people too."

In addition to the lemonade stand, Welter said Shay also helped organize a blood drive last winter, and she and her family will attend a benefit dinner for the foundation as a representative family to share their experience with the organization and what its efforts mean to them.

"She's really sort of become an ambassador for her disease," Welter said.

It has been a fabulous year for Shay, health-wise, Welter said, but having a child with a congenital heart defect always comes with a degree of worry.

"The best way I can explain it is it's like a thief in the night," Welter said "It can just be terrorizing because they can be just doing fine and then go into heart failure the next week."

Welter said she is especially thankful for the Carpers, who she said have become like a second family to Shay.

"The Carpers are just an amazing family that really blessed our family in many ways," Welter said with tears in her eyes. "She loves being adopted by the Carper family because they're so good to her. They represent goodness, and they shower her with goodness, and she wants to be around it."

Scott Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.