EAST CHARLESTON — Judy Moulton of East Charleston, who has been volunteering as a wish granter with Make-A-Wish Vermont for more than 20 years, is now just $1,000 shy of activating a matching grant that will bring her fundraising efforts up to $20,000.
Moulton, who is one of the non-profit’s biggest fundraisers, each year writes a traditional holiday letter to friends, sharing news from her life, the children she meets through Make-A-Wish, and the difference a wish has made in each of their lives.
For example, one year, her wish kid Chloe, then 15, traveled to meet President Obama, and Moulton had a local seamstress make them matching shirts that made the President laugh out loud.
Over the years, friends have started supporting Moulton’s wish-granting work by donating to Make-A-Wish Vermont, and her holiday letter turned into a successful fundraising campaign.
Moulton began involving a local group of middle and high school students who took up the yearly charge to raise as much as they could to help make wishes come true.
This fall, an anonymous Make-A-Wish Vermont donor heard about her grassroots effort and was moved to create a matching grant.
If Moulton could raise $10,000, they pledged to double it.
This year, her mailing list had grown to more than 100 recipients.
She included photos of her wishes from the year and some very special personal news that her husband, Ronald, is in remission from stage three cancer.
Moulton organized other wish granters to write their own letters for support, as well as getting local kids to lead bake sales and other efforts.
Whatever she could think up to raise money for wishes, she did, and bit-by-bit she accumulated $9,000.
With a month left to go, she has just $1,000 left to raise.
If she makes it all the way to $10,000, her mystery match-donor can take the total up to $20,000.
Moulton says she is blown away by the generosity of each of her donors.
“The great things that I get to do for Wish kids don’t start with me,” Moulton said. “Wishes begin with the supporters who believe in what we do.”
If you’d like to help Moulton reach the goal you can donate by sending a check in the mail to:
Make-A-Wish Vermont
431 Pine St. 214
Burlington, VT 05401
Be sure to put in the memo line “Judy Moulton fundraiser.”
