St. Charles Panera hands out big ‘Dough-nation’
Granting a wish for an ill child is one thing, but giving a struggling family an entire new outlook on life may be the greatest gift the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois provides.
Kelly Whistler swears by it — after seeing what happened to her family after 4-year-old son Nicholas, diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor two years ago, was granted his wish for a trip to Disney World last year.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to us,” Whistler said Monday afternoon at Panera Bread in St. Charles, where Panera corporate officials and staff presented a check of $68,183 to Make-A-Wish to commemorate its first year as a sponsor of the program that for 25 years has granted wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions.
The Whistler family, which moved from St. Charles to Cary last month, was one of three families at the presentation, representing those with children who had wishes granted in the past year.
The Maier family of Crystal Lake, with 17-year-old Scot Maier, who suffers from heart disease; and the Petenes family of Bolingbrook, with 5-year-old, Billy, who was diagnosed with only three chambers in his heart, also attended the celebration.
“The trip to Disney World helped us to do things together, it helped us remember how to play together and laugh together as a family,” said Whistler, who along with her husband, Rob, cares for four children in the family with rare disorders. “Prior to that, it was all about hospital visits and who had to be home and who had to be at the hospital, but the kids are thriving since that trip, and we have a totally different perspective on life.”
Nicholas, with his Woody doll from “Toy Story” in tow, was in good spirits at the event, even though he asked his mom why they weren’t going to Florida again.
“Nico has an inoperable brain tumor, growing in two parts of his brain,” Whistler said. “But we were thrilled to learn that it has stopped growing, so now it’s just living day-to-day to see what is next.”
Stephanie Maier also had high praise for Panera Bread and its role with Make-A-Wish.
“We were very happy to come and thank Make-A-Wish and Panera for what they did for Scot,” Maier said of her son’s trip to “Atlantis in the Bahamas” to fulfill his wish of swimming with dolphins. “Scot doesn’t laugh or smile a lot, but when he was in that water with the dolphins, he was, like, belly-laughing the whole time.”
Maier said the trip gave the family some hope to be able to do something similar in the future because it was the first time Scot had been in airplane, and he handled it well.
Lori Petenes arrived to the event late with son Billy, whom she said is doing well, though having struggles in school.
“He has asked if we can go to Disney World again, and I told him it just costs too much money,” Petenes said. “So he went and got his piggy bank, emptied it out on the floor and said, ‘Mom, here’s some money.’”
John Addelia, vice president of operations for the Chicago Bread LLC franchise, which operates 31 Panera Bread bakery-cafes in the Chicago area, said the partnership with Make-A-Wish for the past year was “most exciting and an easy partnership to get emotionally wrapped around” for the company and its employees.
Addelia welcomed St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte to the proceedings, noting that the St. Charles Panera site raised the most money — nearly $10,000 — toward the Make-A-Wish donation.
Money is raised at each Panera café through “Operation Dough-nation” boxes near the cash registers, highlighting the Make-A-Wish promotion and showing a photo of the child the café is trying help.