{"id":428519,"date":"2026-10-15T13:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/428519\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T13:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:12:15","slug":"key-biscayne-resident-joins-make-a-wish-southern-florida-board-of-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/428519\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Biscayne resident joins Make-A-Wish Southern Florida Board of Directors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Key Biscayne resident Diego Ojeda has joined the Make-A-Wish Southern Florida Board of Directors to help direct and govern the philanthropic organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to be part of a group dedicated to positively impacting children and families coping with life-threatening health issues,\u201d Ojeda said on Monday in a press release. \u201cWe\u2019re able to bring joy by granting wishes, and research shows the experiences we provide are an important supplement to traditional medical treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Make-A-Wish Southern Florida grants life-changing wishes for critically ill children in 22 counties, including Miami-Dade. Ojeda, who is the president of the real estate development and management company Rilea Group, will focus on fundraising for the wishes, which the nonprofit <a href=\"https:\/\/wishhouse.org\/make-a-wish\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has already<\/a> accomplished 15,000 times since 1983.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ojeda, an old-school key rat, told the Independent it\u2019s the \u201cmagic\u201d of Make-A-Wish that drew him in. He pointed to research that\u2019s shown how the organization improves mental and emotional well-being, and even lowers general anxiety for young patients.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using his skills as a real estate agent who convinces people to invest in Miami, Ojeda now hopes to use those skills to spread the message of Make-A-Wish in the area. He said the organization plans to provide 550 wishes for children during the 2027 fiscal year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ojeda is committed to helping the organization \u201creach and grant a life-changing wish for every medically-eligible child in our territory,\u201d Norman Wedderburn, president &amp; CEO of Make-A-Wish Southern Florida said.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"m-a-box-avatar-url\" href=\"https:\/\/kbindependent.org\/author\/ava_menkes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AVAMENKES02-082126-EDH-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-150x150 size-150x150\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ava Menkes is a senior reporter with the Independent, covering local government and accountability. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in journalism and political science, and minors in history, European studies and Eastern European\/Central Asian studies. She is originally from Asheville, NC, and has interned with theRaleigh News &amp; Observer,Wisconsin Watchand Isthmuscovering state politics. She also worked withThe Nation,and served as managing editor of her university\u2019s paperThe Daily Cardinal,\u00a0leading 2024 presidential coverage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kbindependent.org\/author\/ava_menkes\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AVAMENKES02-082126-EDH-scaled.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-80 photo\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tAva Menkes is a senior reporter with the Independent, covering local government and accountability. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in journalism and political science,&#8230;\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kbindependent.org\/author\/ava_menkes\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tMore by Ava Menkes\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Biscayne resident Diego Ojeda has joined the Make-A-Wish Southern Florida Board of Directors to help direct and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[109937,589,126,18572,123,125,124,1515],"class_list":["post-428519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-diego-ojeda","tag-featured","tag-key-biscayne","tag-make-a-wish","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-philanthropy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428519","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=428519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}