The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Helps Win Make-A-Wish National Award
10/16/2007 | Athletics
OXFORD, Miss. - In June, Ole Miss athletics joined with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-South to help construct a "field of dreams" for Wish Kid Sam Farris in Mantachie, Miss. The national Make-A-Wish Foundation has honored that accomplishment with the Infinite Wish Award.
The Ole Miss grounds crew teamed with Itawamba Community College and numerous local contributors in securing $30,000 in in-kind contributions for the creation of Farris Field in Sam's backyard.
After the ground-breaking in early April, Barry Arrington, Ole Miss Assistant Director of Athletics Building and Grounds, brought his full staff to Mantachie and worked over seven days at the site, which includes a fenced baseball field, scoreboard and bleachers. Farris Field was christened on June 9 with Sam arriving in a limousine followed by a full-scale game in front of hundreds of fans.
The Infinite Wish Award is the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America's way of recognizing wishes that can generate collaboration, create synergies, and even transform a community - for a child.
The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. The children served by Make-A-Wish are referred to the Foundation by physicians, social workers, their parent(s) or legal guardian(s), and the children themselves. The Foundation does not solicit wishes.
For additional information, please contact Amanda Sexton, at Make-A-Wish, at 901-864-3736 or visit www.midsouthwish.org.