Thursday, October 1, 2026
Baldwin Middle School students set out this year to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Instead, they helped build something far larger.
What began as a schoolwide fundraiser has evolved into a first-of-its-kind partnership in the metropolitan area. Baldwin school district nurses are now trained to help directly connect eligible children facing critical illnesses to the nonprofit’s life-changing wish program, while students work to help fund those wishes — a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disney World, for example, or meeting their favorite celebrity.
With nearly $14,000 already collected and one Baldwin child having begun a “wish journey,” the initiative has transformed a middle school service project into a communitywide mission centered on access, awareness and hope.
For middle school Principal Erica Taylor, however, the effort began with a far simpler goal. Each year, Taylor selects a global service project for the school to support. Last August, while considering which country Baldwin would focus on this year, she stumbled on an email from Make-A-Wish — a message that quickly shifted the trajectory of the school’s annual giving campaign.
“I opened the email and I read about Make-A-Wish,” Taylor recalled. “And I said, ‘You know what? Maybe this year we will think globally but will work locally.’”
Intrigued by the possibility of bringing the mission closer to home, Taylor reached out to Make-A-Wish Community Fundraising Manager Michelle Nardelli, and soon realized that Baldwin students would embrace the opportunity to support the organization.”
Taylor then contacted Laurie Tricamo, the school’s National Junior Honor Society adviser, and together they began laying the groundwork for what would become one of the school’s most ambitious service initiatives to date.
The response was almost immediate: Before the fundraiser had officially launched last month, middle school students collected $5,000 in just two weeks, which surprised even the organizers. Through donation drives, awareness efforts and word-of-mouth support from families and community members, that total has since climbed to nearly $14,000, with students now pushing toward a $20,000 goal by June 10.
Through student-produced videos, announcements and outreach campaigns, National Junior Honor Society members framed themselves as “Wishmakers,” encouraging the community to join them in spreading “hope, joy and big dreams for children everywhere.”
For Taylor, what stood out most wasn’t just the amount being raised, but the enthusiasm behind it. “Their excitement about helping others, their selflessness, the amount of time that they have contributed to Make-A-Wish — I think it speaks to citizenship,” she said.
The mission took on new meaning, Taylor said, when she learned that one district student was facing a serious medical battle. At around the same time, Taylor attended a Make-A-Wish holiday event, and met young adults who had had wishes granted years earlier and were now thriving.
Seeing those testimonies, she said, shifted her perspective.
“I looked at Michelle,” Taylor said of Nardelli, “and I was like, ‘You know, I really would like for my student to have this same type of testimony later on in life.’”
That conversation led Taylor to a frustrating discovery: A school official could not initiate a Make-A-Wish referral on behalf of a child. Referrals were typically made by relatives or members of a child’s health care team. That limitation left schools largely outside the referral process, despite the fact that school nurses were often among the first to recognize when a child was facing a serious health struggle.
Nardelli raised the issue with Make-A-Wish officials, who, Taylor said, indicated they had already been considering expanding school involvement in the referral process.
As a result of those conversations, the foundation came to Baldwin to train 10 district nurses on how to identify and refer eligible children — the first school nurses in the New York City area to take part in such a session.
For Nardelli, the shift marked a significant evolution in Baldwin’s partnership with the organization. “Training school nurses as referral professionals takes their commitment even further,” she said, “turning Baldwin into not just a supporter of our mission, but an active participant in it.”
By educating nurses on how to identify children who are fitting candidates for the Make-A-Wish program, Nardelli said, the organization can now reach students who might otherwise never benefit from it — particularly in families overwhelmed by treatments, appointments and the day-to-day demands of caregiving.
The impact, Baldwin officials said, is already tangible: The student has begun a wish journey through the new referral pathway.
And Baldwin’s partnership with the foundation is already beginning to ripple beyond district lines. Nardelli said that Make-A-Wish hopes to replicate school-based outreach efforts elsewhere, using Baldwin as an example.
For Taylor, that wider significance has changed the way students now view every dollar they collect. “Their donations are actually going to help someone in their own backyard — that’s huge,” she said, adding that the local connection appeared to deepen students’ commitment, pushing them to become even more invested in fundraising, awareness efforts and supporting the organization’s mission.
In their campaign messaging, they urged supporters to “dream bigger together” and reminded donors that “every single dollar makes a difference” in helping a child’s wish come true.
And the effort has expanded beyond the middle school walls. As donations arrived from relatives, neighbors and community members near and far, Taylor said, students began to feel the support of an entire district for children facing critical illnesses.
“I feel like my students are experiencing community and support and love,” she said.
As they continue working toward their $20,000 goal through the school’s Make-A-Wish fundraising page, and district nurses remain prepared to help identify the next eligible child in need of a wish, the initiative, Taylor said, has become a visible lesson in the values the school works to teach. In hallways and fundraising materials alike, students have continued repeating the same message: Every wish starts with someone willing to help.
“Care, kindness and respect are only words if you don’t put them into action,” she said.
