Sunday, December 05, 1999
Their wishes came true: 1998 recipients
BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Emily Pennington, who is blind, with her piano donated last year by Baldwin.
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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For Emily Pennington of Newtown, the Wish List means the 5-year-old gets to play the piano every day, allowing her musical gifts to blossom despite her blindness.
For Arthur “Cowboy” McNeil, 74, it means getting to stay in the Madisonville home he loves, despite the arthritis and diabetes that have slowed him. He was battling a leaking toilet and peeling tile in the bathroom of his home at this time last year.
Emily and Mr. McNeil were among the hundreds who benefitted from their neighbors' generosity through the 1998 Wish List. The Wish List, an annual project of The Cincinnati Enquirer, is administered by the United Way.
“They helped me a lot. I'm a really happy trouper” says Mr. McNeil. “I could talk for hours about the assistance I got from the Wish List. It was beautiful.”
Arthur McNeil got his bathroom fixed.
(Yoni Pozner photo)
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The 1998 Wish List collected $142,661 from 1,819 donors, in addition to many donations of goods and services. That adds up to $1,655,093 donated over the last 13 years. And last year's giving went on well past the holidays.
After the wishes of those profiled were fulfilled, the project gave $6,000 to each of the 20 participating agencies to distribute to the needy. The extra money went to buy bathtub safety rails, glasses, walkers, prescription medication and other necessary items for Tristate residents.
The 14th annual Wish List drive begins today.
Donna Cann of Pierce Township read about Mr. McNeil last year and remembered him from her time as a PNC Bank manager a few years ago. She recalled how the retired janitor always brought a bag of candy with him to give to bank employees.
“He's just a neat man,” Mrs. Cann says. “Cowboy doesn't have a lot of money, but he has a network of people he watches over and calls. It's just unbelievable.”
Christopher Redd enjoys a special swing in his backyard with his mother, Mary.
(Saed Hindash photo)
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Mrs. Cann and her husband, Mark, worked through the holidays to install a new toilet and retile Mr. McNeil's bathroom, but their kindness didn't stop there. She cleaned out his refrigerator one day. They fixed his bannister and took him out to lunch on his birthday. They continue to talk by phone every few weeks.
“They're beautiful people,” Mr. McNeil says. “I'm a lucky person.”
Most of the Wish List gifts from last year continue to bring joy and comfort to their recipients. Emily Pennington received a piano from the Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. of Mason. She now plays nearly every day.
“We knew she had an interest in music, but we didn't know to what degree her talent was until she started taking lessons and had the piano in the house,” says Emily's mom, DeeAnn Pennington. “She continues to amaze her teacher every week. It comes so easily to her and she enjoys it so much. Without the piano at home, she wouldn't be able to play as much.”
Emily enjoys playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Jingle Bells.” But mostly she enjoys being able to play whenever she wants.
“I get to practice at home now,” she says. “I feel lucky that I have” the piano.
All summer long, Christopher Redd of North College Hill, who has cerebral palsy, was able to enjoy the outdoors in an adaptive swing that the students from St. Michael School in Bellevue gave him. The students invited Christopher; his sister, Ashley; and their mother to school in the spring to give him the swing. They also gave him a Tickle Me Elmo and gave Ashley a Furby, as well as other presents.
“We sure appreciate this,” Mrs. Redd told the students. “You guys went through a lot of hard work.”
It was the fifth year students raised money for the Wish List. Last year, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders raised $1,180.25, the most ever. They bought Wish List items for Christopher and for Stephanie Anderson and her three sons of Walnut Hills. They had lost their possessions in a fire last year.
Christopher slept through most of the party, but students tried to engage him with the Furby and Elmo, or by holding him. Mrs. Redd told them about Christopher's preschool. Students wondered about his prognosis.
“Is there any change of him getting better?” one student asked.
“No, because of the way his brain is developed,” his mother said. “The only way he can get better is if God held him. We believe in that.”
One student privately asked teacher Mary Jo Puglielli, who leads the project every year, whether Christopher would ever be able to walk, hear, talk or see. Overhearing the conversation, Cub Smith, then a 14-year-old eighth-grader, said, “I bet he can see clearly in his dreams.”
St. Michael students began raising money for this year's Wish List in November with projects such as Rent-A-Student, where people in the community pay them to do odd jobs, such as raking leaves and washing cars. They've also bagged groceries for customer tips at Riverside Super Valu in Dayton, Ky.
Introduction to the Wish List
Use this coupon
How the Wish List works
Their wishes came true: 1998 recipients
Equipment could ease communication for palsy patients
Single father of two ill children needs appliances, furniture
Computer would offer gift of voice
Mom needs a safe place to sleep for her daughter
Blind college student needs devices, special software
Home needs to be wheelchair equipped
Hospital bed can add to independence
Lift chair can make standing easier
Ky. man's smile might shine more brightly
Scooter would give Avondale man new freedom
Computer could help mother helpo her children
Reading machine would open world
