A message I just sent to the Make-a-Wish foundation

[christopher575]

http://www.wish.org/about/contact/contactform


I am writing in support of Ina Garten. I think the Make-a-Wish Foundation does amazing work, but I'm disgusted by the idea that anyone will be publicly shamed in the worldwide media if they choose not to participate, for whatever reason. Does the foundation have a policy about this? My hope is that Enzo Pereda and his family were told when they came to that you would do your best to fulfill his wish, but that they absolutely should not turn to the media if Ina was unavailable.

It's easy to see how just about any celebrity will end up being inundated with requests for appearances and donations, and there's no reason to think they can possibly do it all in addition to their own work. You have an obligation to ensure that nobody going forward is blackmailed into working with you. We're now seeing stories from every major media outlet (and even a blog post from the Pereda family asking people to leave Ina alone) but what we're not hearing from the foundation is a commitment to ensure that people who work with you from now on are doing it because they want to, not because they are forced.

Comments

[omero-hassan.livejournal.com]

I kind of blame the Make-a-Wish Foundation. They should do a better job of protecting the potential wish granters from embarrassment if the wish can't be fulfilled.

Also, have you seen this report from the Onion News Network?


Child Bankrupts Make-A-Wish Foundation With Wish For Unlimited Wishes (http://www.theonion.com/video/child-bankrupts-makeawish-foundation-with-wish-for,14202/)

[boomstick.livejournal.com]

Eh. I doubt foundations are knocking down Ina's door, asking her to hang out with sick kids who are desperate to see her. She declined not once, but twice within a year and a half. No, she doesn't have an obligation to spend a couple of hours with a dying kid whose last wish is to hang out with her, but I don't have the obligation to respect her for turing down such a request.

I'm sorry, but I really doubt she is so busy she can't even write the boy a letter or something. I don't feel bad for her at all. It's not like she's a Prime Minster or anything - oh, wait. The Prime Minister of Pakistan (http://www.wish.org/stories/hitech/professional/deedar_prime_minister) met with a sick child. He must be busy. Justin Bieber (http://www.wish.org/stories/sports_entertainment/music/monroe_justin_bieber) did it too, and he's more popular than Ina ever will be.

If she had at least contacted him to say she couldn't because she was on a book tour (or whatever she was busy doing), that would be different. But she didn't even say anything...she let her people do it. She's full of herself and gross.

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

BTW it's totally weird that you used a Leslie Hall icon, I was just thinking about her, like, all week.

[moonrock.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with this.

[boomstick.livejournal.com]

And I can't possibly see how anyone just wouldn't want to even contact somebody whose dying wish was to see them. It's beyond possibility for me. Somebody is dying and all they want to do is see you once before they die...pretty disgusting that she turned him down twice in the least personal way ever. I'm not lighting a torch and storming her house or anything, but my opinion on her has gone from "eh" to "fuck her".

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

You know he's not dying, right? Mama Pereda is very sick (http://www.angelsforenzo.com/pleasestopthemadness.htm) of that assertion.


What makes me REALLY sad is how the press has been writing and referring to Enzo as a “DYING” child or a “TERMINAL” child making his “LAST DYING WISH.” Just typing it makes my blood go cold. Enzo is NOT dying or terminal, he IS very sick but he is VERY MUCH alive and the most ALIVE person I have EVER known! He has two beautiful, sensitive, loving sisters who have been very private through out his treatments and I feel terrible that they had to see that OVER and OVER again. Can you imagine how that makes them feel?

[crushdmb.livejournal.com]

I agree with you 100%.

[muriel-puce.livejournal.com]

This reminds me, my Contessa gave me The Barefoot Contessa's "How Easy Is That" cookbook for Xmas this year. I think it would be fun to do a whole dinner from it now that I'm back in business, so to speak.

I could invite you and G. Even though he probably won't come. ;-)

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Eh, I probably wouldn't do it either.

[scunnerred.livejournal.com]

Well said, sir.