Young Man Making Sound Waves
December 1, 2014 – Small Business Growth Alliance (SBGA) Partners with Make-A-Wish to Help Fan with Life-Threatening Illness Meet 2014 Artist of the Year Bruno Mars
Do you smile or dance when you sing along to your favorite song? You’re not alone. Music is a universal language that has the ability to excite, calm, soothe, and generally make everything better. With that sort of power, it’s no wonder that so many wishes come in with the desire to meet musicians! Everyone has their favorite artist, and for Ricardo, that’s Bruno Mars. Ricardo loves to spend his days singing along to his favorite songs, so when it came time for him to choose his most heartfelt wish, the answer was obvious: to meet 2014 Artist of the Year Bruno Mars!
“To fulfill the most heartfelt desire of a child – to give them the chance to experience something with their family that they might not normally have a chance to – is without doubt one of the proudest accomplishments of our company,” said Nathan Jurczyk, Vice President of the Small Business Growth Alliance (SBGA). “I am proud to say that SBGA is a contributor to the wish-granting work of the Make-A-Wish Foundation® that helps kids like Ricardo live their dreams.”
Ricardo’s wish day started with a special limousine ride into Los Angeles. As they waited for the concert that night, Ricardo and his family spent time at Universal Studios Hollywood where they explored the park, checked out movie sets, and enjoyed attractions like Transformers: The Ride 3D. After a fun-filled day of visiting Universal Studios, Ricardo and his family made their way to the Hollywood Bowl to meet Bruno Mars before the concert that night.
“Ricardo and his family and his siblings has the opportunity to sit with Bruno Mars and meet with him – strum on the guitar a little before the show began,” explained Make-A-Wish Foundation® Orange County and Inland Empire’s Sarah Pizzaruso as she presented Ricardo’s Make-A-Wish plaque to the leadership team of SBGA. “He left not only with signed guitar picks, but – as you could probably imagine – lots of other concert swag for that day.”
After meeting Bruno Mars Ricardo was star struck, but that didn’t stop him from dancing and singing along to every song during the concert! It was an incredible experience for the whole family to have so much fun together and see Ricardo so happy. They will always cherish the memories they made together and whenever they hear Ricardo’s favorite songs on the radio, it will always bring them back to his special wish day.
“We just granted our 5,000th wish in the Inland Empire and Orange County,” Ms. Pizzaruso announced. “We could not do that without the support of folks like you guys. For the families not only of the 5,000 wishes that we granted locally, but the wishes from all across the country – over 250,000 – we just want to say (a couple days late for Thanksgiving) really, truly thank you.”
Ricardo’s wish marks the 58th wish granted through the partnership between the Make-a-Wish Foundation® and the Small Business Growth Alliance (SBGA).