{"id":9240,"date":"2021-03-18T19:03:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T19:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/23\/elizabeth-palmer-21-named-woman-of-the-year-by-make-a-wish-south-carolina\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T15:39:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:39:17","slug":"elizabeth-palmer-21-named-woman-of-the-year-by-make-a-wish-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/elizabeth-palmer-21-named-woman-of-the-year-by-make-a-wish-south-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Palmer \u201921 named \u2018Woman of the Year\u2019 by Make-a-Wish South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Elizabeth Palmer \u201921 was asked to be an honoree for the W.I.S.H. (Women Inspiring Strength and Hope) Society of Make-A-Wish South Carolina, she was overjoyed. Then, as the weight of the honor sunk in, she panicked a little because she wasn\u2019t sure how she would raise the $7,500 \u2013 a goal that comes with the recognition and represents the average cost of a child\u2019s wish.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Palmer, an educational studies major and poverty studies minor at Furman, got creative.<\/p>\n

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Anna Leigh was granted her wish to be Rapunzel for a day in 2017. She “let down her hair” down at the Furman Bell Tower.<\/p><\/div>\n

Palmer, who interned with Make-A-Wish South Carolina over the summer, was named Woman of the Year for exceeding her goal, drumming up more than $10,000 for the charitable group that grants wishes for children with critical illnesses.<\/p>\n

The wishes run the gamut \u2013 pet dogs, shopping sprees, all-terrain vehicles, pet goats (no kidding), and even a camper outfitted with games, gear and snacks for a boy battling leukemia. And in 2017, Furman played a role in Anna Leigh\u2019s wish to be Rapunzel for a day, where she let down her hair from the Bell Tower.<\/p>\n

To meet her $7,500 target, Palmer pulled out all the stops. Enlisting the help of her mother at her home near Georgetown, South Carolina, Palmer hatched a plan \u2013 quite literally at the kitchen table.<\/p>\n

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Palmer used Instagram and Facebook for her fundraising campaign.<\/p><\/div>\n

For the small, close-knit community of DeBordieu, South Carolina, the two crafted an email in which they offered several homemade dishes and desserts. All the proceeds from the sale of the treats would go to Make-A-Wish South Carolina, but invariably, people made additional donations.<\/p>\n

They offered a menu of pimento cheese, chicken salad, cookies and other treats, and sent the email to about 20 families.<\/p>\n

The orders came rolling in, and Palmer and her parents found themselves \u201celbow deep in cookie dough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turns out the other kind of dough came through as well \u2013 much more than Palmer expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cI told my supervisor I thought I\u2019d probably end up raising about $600. But $4,000 to $5,000 came from food sales. It was crazy. I was so overwhelmed by the support.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Palmer said the South Carolina chapter had over 70 wishes on hold due to canceled fundraisers or virtual fundraisers, which don\u2019t generally raise as much money as in-person ones. Today, the wish backlog in South Carolina is running at about 400.<\/p>\n

But food sales was just one tactic in Palmer\u2019s approach for Make-A-Wish South Carolina.<\/p>\n

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Palmer looks to art major Madeleine Brake ’22 to craft a design for Make-A-Wish merch.<\/p><\/div>\n

She also sent handwritten letters to friends and family requesting support, and generated funding from Instagram and Facebook campaigns, which together funneled as much as $3,000 toward her goal. She teamed with a friend and graphic design major, Madeleine Brake \u201922 , to create a Make-A-Wish hoodie to sell, which brought in another $300.<\/p>\n

Besides being named Woman of the Year, it\u2019s no wonder Palmer was also informally dubbed \u201cmost out-of-the-box thinker,\u201d during the virtual award ceremony in January, where seven other honorees were recognized.<\/p>\n

Palmer, who has had two internships with Make-A-Wish, said her passion for children and the nonprofit world has grown over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen and heard of Wish stories and how positively the wishes impact a child\u2019s life and family \u2013 it\u2019s the kind of mission I want to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

An advocate for Special Olympics and the Best Buddies program, Palmer can trace her love for children to her sophomore year in high school, where she was paired with Best Buddy Sarah, a student with a developmental disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe and I still FaceTime about four times a day,\u201d said Palmer. \u201cShe has been the biggest impact and driving factor in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"woman

Elizabeth Palmer, a 2020 W.I.S.H. Society honoree, was named Woman of the Year by Make-A-Wish South Carolina.<\/p><\/div>\n

People with special needs or even people with critical conditions, like those Make-A-Wish serves, just need a sense of normalcy and something to look forward to, said Palmer.<\/p>\n

Palmer is taking classes and doing an internship now with Make-A-Wish North Carolina. Exactly where she\u2019ll be working after graduation is uncertain at this point, but she\u2019s excited about continuing her path in the nonprofit field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it \u2013\u00a0I\u2019m definitely happiest when I\u2019m doing this kind of work. I have always just felt like it was what I was born to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Elizabeth Palmer \u201921 was asked to be an honoree for the W.I.S.H. (Women Inspiring Strength and Hope) Society of Make-A-Wish South Carolina, she was overjoyed. Then, as the weight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,45,28,61,5,80],"tags":[759,760,761,762],"class_list":["post-9240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-art","category-education","category-the-furman-advantage","category-top-four-news-1st-story","category-urban-studies","tag-childrens-causes","tag-fundraising","tag-make-a-wish","tag-nonprofits"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}