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Make A Wish of Northwestern Ohio and the Northwestern Ohio Tractor Pullers have a most unique relationship.  You might be wondering what those two entities have in common and the answer is… MUCH!  For the past 25 years the National Tractor Pulling Championships has invited Make A Wish families and staff to attend their pull.   Families come ready to watch and listen and leave exhilarated and exhausted.  Volunteers run the stadium with collection buckets and the generous pullers, patrons and blue shirts fill the buckets with cash.  All of this money goes directly to area wish children waiting for their wishes to be granted.

The highlight for many of the wish families is the Saturday afternoon auction.  The pullers and vendors, donate items for auction and everyone gets involved.  Last year, the auction alone raised $124,000.00 and with running the stands, t-shirt sales and general donations $190,002.00 went directly to Make A Wish after expenses.  That allowed for 24 area children to have their wish granted.  This partnership between Make A Wish and the NTPC is a special one and a long one.  This summer will be the 25th year and will most likely push the total donations to over ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

The Make A Wish local office would not be able to do what it does without the Tractor pull.  We never forget that.  We also realize what a generous group of people we get to work with while this is going on.  The kids love it.  The parents appreciate it.  Our staff is humbled by it.

YOU… make a difference… YOU… make a wish happen!  Thank you!

Cherie Chatreau-Grifo

Sr. Development Officer

Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana

 

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The Chris Greicius Award

The award is named after Chris Greicius, the 7-year-old boy whose wish to be a police officer inspired the creation of Make-A-Wish in 1980. This honor is given to those whose giving level reaches over $1,000,000.  The National Tractor Pulling Championships – That’s a big name and that doesn’t begin to define what drives that group. The “Blue Shirts” are the working soul of this organization and make sure every single I is dotted, and every t is crossed. This group of people, men and women, work tirelessly to ensure that the pull runs smoothly, the fans are happy and that the pullers are pulling.

Over the past 26 years, they have made a “weekend home” for Make A Wish and our Make A Wish families. They invite our wish kids to experience a day of excitement, fun and fellowship. There is no need we have that they don’t attend to. Their generosity and love of our mission has allowed us to raise over $1,000,000 from this annual “3rd weekend in August Extravaganza”. On average, that allows us to grant more than 20 wishes per year.

We are honored to award the Chris Greicius Award to the Blue Shirts of The National Tractor Pulling Championships. Thank you for your support and generosity. We wouldn’t be the same without you.

On Thursday, September 26, 2019 the NTPC Directors were invited to the Make-A-Wish “Evening of Excellence” awards in Lewis Center Ohio. This is a National year-end celebration recognizing achievement over the past year for the Ohio/Indiana and Kentucky chapter. The Blue Shirts of the NWOTPA were honored with the “2019 REACH FOR THE STARS” award, given to one person/organization who exemplified the art of giving and exceeded expectations for money raised and gifts granted to Make-A-Wish children for a chapter. Over $403,000 in 2019 alone and 1.4 Million in the history of our partnership. Congrats.
2019 NTPC = 50 WISHES STRONG!

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RAISED $400,000+ FOR MAKE-A-WISH!

For the 28th year, The Northwestern Ohio Tractor Pullers Association (NWOTPA) and Make-A-Wish® Ohio Kentucky & Indiana (Make-A-Wish OKI) pulled together to raise money to grant wishes for children in northwest Ohio battling critical illnesses. The 53rd National Tractor Pulling Championships raised a record amount for Make-A-Wish OKI, more than $400,000! “We are blown away by the generosity of the pullers and fans who attended The National Tractor Pulling
Championships,” said Make-A-Wish OKI Chief Advancement Officer John Carreon. “They have some of the biggest hearts we’ve ever seen and care so deeply for our mission. Thanks to them, dozens of local children’s wishes are coming true!”

Every summer, an average of 65,000 people come out for the largest truck and tractor pull in the world. To date, more than $1.5 million dollars has been raised for Make-AWish OKI. “We love helping this organization and are just so very proud of the sponsors, the pullers and the fans that give to this,” said National Tractor Pulling Championships President Mike Erford. “We’re well over that million-dollar fundraising benchmark and that’s an amazing feat.”  This year’s event honored legendary puller, Larry Koester, a long-time supporter of Make-A-Wish OKI. Larry helped make countless wishes come true and was a three-time Grand National champion in the Modified Mini division. Larry passed away at a pull this July.

About Make-A-Wish® Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana
Make-A-Wish® creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We are on a quest to bring every eligible child’s wish to life, because a wish is an integral part of a child’s treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. There are currently more than 120 children in northwest Ohio who are awaiting their wish. For more details on how to get engaged with our chapter, please visit www.oki.wish.org or follow us on social media @makeawishohkyin.