Zionsville six-year-old Samantha Riedlinger had the time of her life in March when the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted her wish to visit Tinkerbell at Disney World.
“Samatha loves tinkerbell,” said grandmother Brenda Snider. “We will go to the store and she will point at Tinkerbell and point to herself and say ‘that’s me.’”
The Make-A-Wish Foundation enriches the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. Samantha was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, Complex 1 deficiency, after more than four years of testing at Peyton Manning’s Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent. The disease is a progressive degenerative disorder that affects organs and tissues in the brain, heart, liver and other areas that require high energy levels.
After Samantha and her family returned from the trip to Disney World, they decided to pay it forward and will have a Make-A-Wish bake sale and garage sale Saturday, July 7, so they can help make other children’s wishes come true.
“Make-A-Wish really goes all out for these kids and they put a lot of effort into it,” Snider said. “We would like to help send another person on their wish. It can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000 depending on the wish and it means a lot to me to give back.”
Samantha’s mother, Lora Snider, said the family also created a group, called Samantha’s Angels, consisting of 20 family members and friends. The group will walk at the Make-A-Wish 5k walk on Saturday, July 14, at Fort Harrison State Park in Indianapolis. She said Samantha was also chosen as the honorary child at the event.
Donations for the sale will be accepted from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, July 6, at Town Hall, 1100 W. Oak St. The sale will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 7, at Town Hall. Donations of all monetary sizes will also be accepted. All proceeds will be donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation through the July 14 walk.
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