Behind The Wish - Natasha Guerinoni

I was born in Kununurra, which is at the top end of Western Australia. And I moved down to Perth when I was four years old.

My career has always been words and people. I started in a communications consultancy; I then moved to the UK and did work in finance and tech for the UK Government.

When I moved back to WA, I worked in public transport infrastructure for 15 years doing communication and engagement and strategy. I am still in infrastructure now. People and words are what I do every day.

I have 9-year-old and 11-year-old girls. It was a year after my first daughter was born that I decided to join Make-A-Wish because I had this amazing healthy little person and I wanted to do something with kids.

Whatever charity work I had done up till then was whatever had resonated with me at the time. But when I had my first daughter I really wanted to work with kids. We have just been so lucky that our kids have been really healthy.

I think a desire to make kids’ lives a little bit easier, happier and brighter drove me to Make-A-Wish.

I knew about Make-A-Wish and what I really liked was there was an actual frontline component to it for the volunteers. It wasn’t just fundraising and talking about it, it was getting involved with the kids.

There is something magical about granting wishes: you get to be a fairy godmother every single time. I love the imagination of children.

I know they say don’t work with children but I would work with children over adults any day because there’s just that fun in them. They don’t come with any of the baggage, history and prejudices: for them, the world is just endless.

Being able to interact with kids, and actually visibly being able to see that what I am doing is making a difference. I don’t think you get that instant response from a lot of things in life.

There are moments in the past 10 years where when work has been really hectic or when I had my second daughter that I thought about what I should just cut from my life and every time I am on the brink of saying ‘OK that’s it for Make-A-Wish I go to a Branch meeting and hear about the wishes other volunteers are working on or we run an event with our Branch and we band together to do something. It just keeps sucking me in. That’s why I have been with Make-A-Wish for 10 years.

There's been some well-wishes and congratulations for reaching my 10 years. That made me feel very special. But at the end of the day it hasn’t seemed that hard. Ten years has gone so fast. I don’t feel like I have done anything special just yet. But it was lovely.

My first office bearer role in the Perth Central Branch was PR Coordinator and that was managing our Facebook stories.

I have been Volunteer Care Coordinator which was nice being able to share my excitement and passion with new people.

Currently I have three roles because we are short on volunteers: Vice President, PR Coordinator and Fundraising Coordinator.

The first wish I think of every single time is a puppy wish. I know that’s not the most exciting and glamorous wish but, like, who doesn’t love a puppy?

This particular wish child was so excited. The puppy came to Perth from the eastern states and we all – including the wish child – were at the airport at 9 o’clock at night, it was freezing, just so we could take this puppy as it came of the plane.

Seeing how excited the girl was and seeing all the licks and kisses from the puppy, it was so much fun.

To be part of that unfiltered joy is such a special part of being a Make-A-Wish volunteer.

And then later, with this puppy wish, the mum would constantly give me updates on how the puppy was growing and how Puppy School was going.

The wish child had cystic fibrosis so when she was going back into treatment or not going well, I would get photos of the dog lying in the bed next to her. It gave our wish child so much more strength.

When you first meet the wish child, and talking to them about what is their cherished wish, really puts life in perspective because you haven’t even granted the wish at that point but they are still so happy.

The power of anticipation is phenomenal.

You hear about their conditions and their treatments and the kids are just so resilient and so happy. It puts all your worries to one side because that kid is someone who has been dealing with some really heavy stuff. They just have the ability to shrug it off.

Picture: Natasha (far left) on Zeth's Spider-Man wish.

I have been really fortunate to be involved in a number of those larger wishes.

A couple of years ago I was there when Zeth got his wish to hang out with Spider-Man for the day and then Hunter with his Willy Wonka wish. Those are so phenomenal.

I remember with Hunter’s wish he said he really liked SpongeBob and I also like lollies and chocolates. All this random stuff. And we were able to distil it, filter it and it was a phenomenal effort from the Wish Team at National Office to help us get there.

Those were both epic, epic wish days. I was like exhausted and in a puddle after it but definitely riding high on adrenaline.

They were great examples of how anything is possible. And how the community can pull together.

There are so many facets to the big wishes. It’s a massive effort from the Wish Team and the partners they bring on board to help us.

Those big wishes often involve a central character like Willy Wonka and Spider-Man. And often people playing those characters give their time for free.

And then you have the venues that play their part. And then people are donating food and props. Then you have to call in other volunteers and their friends and family so you have a Rent-A-Crowd for the wish.

That’s what makes it so wonderous for the child. They are not picking up the little nuances, they are just seeing the wonder of it all.

Knowing the machine that is behind the wish and how many people are willing to be a part of it, that’s such a powerful thing.

From simple wishes to the most extraordinary wishes, to everything in between, each of them is always good fun in their own way.

Picture: Natasha (right) on Zeth's Willy Wonka wish.

From the moment the wish gets approved you can already start to see an uplift in mood for the wish child and their family.

Sometimes we don’t get the Wish Capture straight away. And that’s OK. The whole thing is to not add any pressure because there is so much going on.

But the capture is also a really good distraction. So we say ‘send me some links’ or ‘write down some ideas’ so we really tailor it for each kid.

The anticipation phase changes their mindset. The wish is something to help them push through their medical journey.

One thing that is underestimated is how a serious illness stops the whole family.

So I have met families who just haven’t been able to go on a holiday. Or they haven’t been able to have a party because they can’t risk someone bringing illness into the house.

So you have got siblings who actually miss out on a lot of things as well.
So what I love about the Wish Journey is that you don’t forget the siblings.

So when the volunteers are there meeting the wish child they are playing and talking with the siblings and we are finding ways to bring in the siblings and bring in the parents.

And often the wish kids surprise you because they also recognise what it’s been like for their siblings and for their parents and they are so unselfish and they want the wish to be a thank you for them.

Often the wish kid will want to travel and they say ‘I really want to make some memories with my family’. And that is just beautiful. So for me it’s the unintended positive effects on the family which is really lovely.

When I think about the impact of Make-A-Wish on me, the word perspective comes to mind.

Being involved with the wish families it just gives you a perspective reset. Everyone’s problems are unique, but being able to look at it compared to wish families you then say to yourself ‘I’m doing OK’.

What I think Make-A-Wish has taught me is adapting my style to the situation. I’ve never come into contact with non-verbal kids. So just learning different ways of interacting with people in what I have gained.

In my career I’m very much a ‘get it done’ sort of person. And it used to frustrate me when people weren’t working as fast as me.

But being a Make-A-Wish volunteer the same time as being in leadership roles at work, it has helped me be more accepting of people’s differences.

When you are volunteering people don’t have to jump and do it as fast as I may do. So it’s given me the ability to step back and learn how to work with different styles. I have been able to hone that ability.

Make-A-Wish is like a dopamine rush. You swell with happiness and joy. And feel gratitude for the life you have.

You actually remember the Make-A-Wish highs. There is very little in life that you can remember in detail. But when I talk about some of the wishes I have been involved in, I can remember them in detail.

The emotions, the colours and the feelings. It certainly imprints in you a lot more than other days where you think ‘this is the best day of my life’.

I would like to be remembered as someone who had a lot of positive energy for all things Make-A-Wish. And that she did everything she could to get a good result for the wish child and family.

That’s one great thing about Make-A-Wish, there’s always that opportunity to scale back if you need to.

Going to a Branch meeting always changes your mindset. The meeting always gives me the energy to continue.

Hearing the stories and thinking I want to be part of that. Or you realise actually I can help with that. It’s that snowball effect.

But you just have to adapt. There’s so many ways you can give to Make-A-Wish.

I have also donated a few times to Make-A-Wish. Sometimes I’m not able to participate in whatever activity or event our Branch has organised, so donating is my way of contributing a little bit more. If I can’t donate my time, I have the financial means to make a donation.

Picture: Natasha (front left) with fellow Make-A-Wish volunteers.

I put my hand up for wishes because I am always curious to see what that next wish is going to be. I am quite a results-driven person so I love the fundraising events. I have an objective and I work out how to hit my target.

That probably says more about my professional personality more than anything.

The first time I organised a street appeal was a fundraiser I’ll always remember. Street collections are not really a thing anymore because no one really has cash. But for this first one I remember thinking about the target we got the year before and going ‘Yes we can definitely beat that’.

It was a good example of bringing the community together. So I had friends come along, we had school kids there and it was from that fundraising event that we got a couple of new volunteers. One being Lizzy Alderson who went on to become Branch President. I love being part of an event that created a chain reaction, because Lizzy has been involved in so much.

If you’re not sure about joining Make-A-Wish, just give it a go. There is nothing to lose but everything to gain. But even if you are involved for six months and go on one wish and go to one fundraising event, that has huge implications.

For example that street appeal we had 30 people come and one of them went on to do amazing things.

If you do join be upfront about what you can and can’t do. If you don’t want to do wishes and only do fundraising that’s OK. Or if you don’t want to do fundraising, and just do wishes then that’s OK too.

What I love about the Perth Central Branch is the breadth of experience that we have. We have some volunteers who have been with Make-A-Wish for 30 years or more. So they bring this really motherly and grandmotherly vibe to the group.

Then we have got new volunteers, young people who bring that new age thinking and that empathy that’s so evident in 20 year olds today.

I would love to see more diversity, we have all women except 'Rambo' (Mustapha Ramdianee). Because we have so many different voices I think it makes our wishes so much richer. Everyone is so respectful of each other.