{"id":292148,"date":"2026-06-01T19:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/292148\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:56:08","slug":"orlando-gala-raises-1-85m-for-make-a-wish-wishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/292148\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Gala Raises $1.85M for Make-A-Wish Wishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florid<\/a>a raised $1.85 million during its annual Orlando gala to help grant wishes for children with critical illnesses.<\/p>\n

The 32nd Annual Fields BMW Wishmakers Ball was held Saturday, May 30, at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando.<\/p>\n

Channel 9 Chief Meteorologist Tom Terry helped host the event, which brought together more than 1,000 people to support wish families across Central and Northern Florida.<\/p>\n

Organizers said the money raised will stay in Central and Northern Florida to support wishes for local children and their families.<\/p>\n

The event featured a cocktail reception, silent auction, wish auction, live auction and after-party.<\/p>\n

Several wish kids were featured during the evening, including Andy, a 13-year-old with cancer whose wish to attend a Formula 1 race marked the 8,000th wish granted by Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florida.<\/p>\n

Jase, a 13-year-old with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma, was also recognized after having his wish granted to meet Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.<\/p>\n

Beckett, an 11-year-old heart transplant recipient, was featured for his wish to experience the world of \u201cHome Alone\u201d in New York City during Christmastime.<\/p>\n

Charlotte, a 6-year-old with a brain tumor, was recognized after her wish to go on a Disney cruise was granted.<\/p>\n

The event also included a wish reveal for Nolan, a 12-year-old with a genetic disorder who wished to meet Trevor Lawrence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are beyond grateful for every bid, every donation, and every act of kindness given to our wish kids,\u201d said Anne Cuba, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florida. \u201cEach wish granted gives a child a spark of hope, strength and joy in days to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evening was hosted by local broadcast personalities Greg Warmoth, Johnny Magic, Tom Terry and wish alumna Sophie Breney, who battled leukemia and wished to go to the Grammys.<\/p>\n

Make-A-Wish said the event was supported by sponsors including Fields BMW, Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and VoLo Foundation.<\/p>\n

More information about Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florida is available on the organization\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florida raised $1.85 million during its annual Orlando gala to help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[123387,147,145,123386,28,18572,139,123388,141,140,144,146,123389],"class_list":["post-292148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-central-and-northern-florida","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-critical-illnesses","tag-florida","tag-make-a-wish","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-gala","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9","tag-wishmakers-ball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}