Since we started working with Make-A-Wish over 3 years ago, we have met some truly amazing people and even more amazing Wish Kids. Children who are fighting a critical illness and yet through it all, are some of the most joyous, wonderful rays of sunshine! They truly are inspirational and make capturing Make-A-Wish events and wish grants some of the most rewarding work we have ever done.
It is through all of this rewarding work with Make-A-Wish that we have been able to meet and get to know Tysen, who after receiving his own wish to meet Adam Sandler, decided that he wanted more kids to get their own wishes granted. And with that, Tysen’s Mission to a Million was started.
And this year, for the Make-A-Wish Gala, the event was handed over to Tysen and his team to mark the final year in Tysen’s goal. Before the Gala started, Tysen had granted 68 of his 100 missions, raising close to $680,000! I am so excited to see what the final numbers were following the event because based on just my rough math, I am pretty sure it is great!!
Tysen’s Gala was themed around Jeans, Jerseys & Jewels to honour Tysen’s love of hockey and throughout the night it was definitely easy to see what city we were in solely based on the volume of Senators and Red Blacks jerseys being worn – although the occasional Leafs or Habs jersey were in the mix too of course. The night was filled with so many other great events too, including some thank you videos from some of the kids who had their wishes granted through Tysen and even a message from Adam Sandler himself!! That’s right guys, a personal message from Adam Sandler letting Tysen know how amazing the work he is doing is. And as an added bonus, he announced an amazing opportunity for 2 lucky people to win a walk on role in Happy Madison’s next production!!
We had an absolute blast capturing not only the highlights and details of the main event, but also running our photo booth throughout the evening and we are so happy to share some of the photos here with you all. But once you are done here, remember to head over to Make-A-Wish and Tysen’s Mission to a Million (and that cool raffle: makeawish.vonality.com!) and show them your support, because they truly deserve it.
Special thanks to all of the great companies and people who sponsored this event:
Hot 89.9
Brookstreet Hotel
VLN Advanced Technologies Inc.
Borden Ladner Gervais
Clean Water Works
ICOR Technology
Tony Graham Automotive Group
OSEG Foundation
Stephanie Beach Photography (that’s us!!)
WellsGarbe Productions
Opportunity Knocks Events
SONY
Playloud Productions
Swag Revolution
Elephant Print
Sweet Cheeks Cakes and Cupcakes
501st Legion
Party Mart
And of course to all of the companies who have contributed to the silent auction
