Make-A-Wish Grants Tye Schaffer His Dream
Make-A-Wish Grants Tye Schaffer
His Dream of Meeting Dude Perfect
In just a few more days, Tye Schaffer and his father, Mike, will head out on the trip of a lifetime. The trip is the fulfillment of a Make-A-Wish request made by Tye, who was diagnosed with leukemia in September of 2018. Tye is now in remission but will continue to receive monthly treatments until September 2022 in addition to a daily regimen of pills.
Tye applied for his wish in April, hoping to meet the members of Dude Perfect and see them perform in person. It took a long time, but the Make-A-Wish organization was able to arrange for the wish for Tye and a group of other kids with critical illnesses.
Dude Perfect is a five-member American sports entertainment group from Frisco, TX, and they are YouTube famous. The members of the group hold many Guinness World Records, and their videos have garnered over nine billion views. Their videos depict various trick shots and stunts cut together with upbeat music.
Tye calls them tricksters and is eager to see the group perform. The wish granters from Make-A-Wish were surprised to learn that Dude Perfect plans a week every so often for groups of Make-A-Wish kids to go to their home base in Frisco.
Make-A-Wish provided for four people to be included in wish fulfillment, so Tye and Mike have invited two guests to accompany them. They will leave Milbank on Friday, February 29.
“Make-A-Wish puts them up in a Sioux Falls hotel; a limo picks them up and takes them to the airport; Wish people from Sioux Falls will make sure they get through the airport. They’ll have an itinerary that is all taken care of by the Make-A-Wish foundation, and they don’t have a care in the world,” explained one of the wish granters during the announcement.
The announcement was made during a party for Tye and his family members and friends last Wednesday, February 19. Tye’s friends, Brady Huizenga, Fischer Hawley, Zack Karges and Pierce Mathiason, were invited to help him celebrate, along with his favorite teachers. Many members of the Valley Queen Employees Helping Hands group were also present.
Valley Queen was the adopting wish partner for Tye’s wish, and the company has helped with other wish grants in the past. “We are thrilled, as a company, to be involved in that, and to make wishes like the wish Tye had, come true,” commented Jody Kuper, who retired from Valley Queen’s procurement department last spring. “It’s pretty special to be able to do that. Make-A-Wish is a great organization.”
Valley Queen pledges one-quarter of a cent per mile the company trucks put on in a year. With more than three million miles per year, that donation rounds to about $10,000 that goes to support the wish-granting for kids with critical illnesses.
Last year, Make-A-Wish South Dakota granted a record 88 wishes. Each grant costs $7,200 or more.
~Holli Seehafer
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Grant County Review
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