New Jersey nonprofit One Simple Wish helps kids in foster care
NEW JERSEY (CBS) -- A local nonprofit organization in New Jersey is granting wishes to foster children. One of those wishes came true in the CBS News Philadelphia studio.
This organization says no wish is too big or too small to put a smile on a young person's face.
Morning news, it's an early grind. While CBS News Philadelphia morning anchors Jim Donovan and Janelle Burrell were getting ready onset, reporter Wakisha Bailey gave Darius Kouaho and Danielle Gletow a tour of the studio before discussing the nonprofit One Simple Wish.
"I think there are anywhere between 400,000 to 500,000 children in the United States spending time in foster care, and over 20,000 of them will age out of the system without being reunified without being adopted," said the founder of One Simple Wish, Danielle Gletow.
Gletow was once a foster parent herself.
"We had a 3-day-old baby placed with us who became our daughter. But shortly after she was placed with us I found out I was pregnant. We instantly had a family," said Gletow.
Instead of discussing eye-opening statistics, Gletow and her husband set out to grant wishes through their nonprofit One Simple Wish.
"It's been over 300,000 wishes in 15 years," said Gletow. "Many of us, especially those of us who were raised with our families, we had birthday parties, we also got new school clothes we got to pick those cool pairs of shoes we wanted."
Alongside Gletow is 21-year-old Kouaho from the Ivory Coast.
Kouaho moved with his family from West Africa when he was a little boy.
"Some incidents happened and it caused me and my siblings to separate and go to foster homes, and it was tragic," said Kouaho.
Kouaho connected with One Simple Wish. He's made a few wishes himself, but the most meaningful wish would be to become a voice actor.
Inside the CBS News Philadelphia studio, Kouaho was able to practice reading from the teleprompter with anchors Donovan and Burrell.
Kouaho and countless others are grateful that someone took the time to make their one simple wish come true.
Head over to www.onesimplewish.org to learn more about the organization and how you can grant a wish.
