NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida teen who is living with a blood disease was showered with gifts in a creative, socially distant way, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
7News cameras captured 16-year-old Stanlay Joseph smiling through his face mask, Saturday.
He had reason to be jolly. For the North Miami teen, this was Christmas in August.
Like everyone else, Joseph loves new gifts, but due to COVID-19, his wish for a shopping spree got altered.
Plan B, however, turned out to be pretty festive, as Make-A-Wish provided a caravan to personally deliver his wish list in cars decorated with balloons, banners and signs.
“I’m very happy with the way it turned out,” he said. “They were able to make the shopping spree happen with COVID happening around, and they were able to give me all my stuff.”
Joseph received a Nintendo Switch and new shoes as part of the caravan.
Make-A-Wish, which grants a wish every 16 hours to children and teenagers throughout the country, had no plans to let the pandemic rain on Joseph’s shopping spree parade.
“We owe it to kids like Stanley to make their wishes happen. We owe it to them,” said Richard Kelly, CEO of Make-A-Wish Southern Florida. “We’re not going to let coronavirus stand in our way. As long as it’s safe to grant a wish, we’re going to grant that wish, and that’s what we did today.”
For Joseph, it all made for a special day he will never forget.
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