Granting a wish

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She thought she’d won a coloring contest.

On Feb. 27, 11-year-old Alissa Carter, a Searcy resident who has tuberous sclerosis complex, a rare genetic condition, headed to Rhodes-Reaves Field House to collect her prize — a chance to meet Harding’s athletic teams and receive a gift from each.

Alissa received a gift, but it was much bigger than she expected. Thanks to the work of Har­ding’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee that raised more than $8,000 and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Alissa found out she was receiving a fairy treehouse built in her backyard by Natural State Treehouses of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

She was ecstatic. Her family was thrilled. It was a joyous experience for Bison athletic teams, which congratulated her on the court after the reveal.

The big day for Alissa was almost three years in the making and was quite an undertaking for Harding’s SAAC.

The SAAC has at least two representatives from each of its athletics teams. Its purpose includes organizing community service efforts.

In July 2015, two members of Harding’s SAAC — Jack Thomas of the baseball team and A’ndi Haney of the women’s basketball team — attended the Great American Conference’s SAAC retreat at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. At the retreat, officials from the GAC encouraged student athletes to take ownership in raising money for Make-A-Wish. At the time, each institution was responsible for raising $1,000 each year to send to the GAC. The conference office would then send the money to the NCAA.

Six months later in January 2016, Thomas and Haney led a Harding SAAC meeting and introduced the possibility of granting a wish for someone in the White County area. The difficult part of this proposal was that the Harding SAAC would have to increase significantly its fundraising activity. To grant a wish to a local child, athletes would need to raise $8,000. The idea was well-received by the SAAC members, and the decision was made to go after their goal in the 2016-17 school year.

“We thought, ‘This will go over great with the Harding community,’” Haney said. “Harding is a community of mission and service. It was something that we knew we had to strive to do.”

Thomas was equally optimistic about the increased fundraising effort.

“I knew that if we could divide it up over a couple of school years that we could do it,” Thomas said.

As the school year began, the SAAC organized many fundraisers over three years to raise money for the project.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams raised money in a contest at Midnight Madness — the women won and enjoyed smashing the faces of the men’s team with pies.

Men’s tennis player and now student assistant Neto Cacace led Week of Restaurants fundraisers over three years where local restaurants donated between 10-20 percent of the proceeds to the Make-A-Wish cause.

“Mi Pueblito was amazing with its support of our efforts,” Cacace said. “The restaurant helped us all three years. Other restaurants that worked with us were Rock House, Zaxby’s, Pasta Grill, Fuji’s, El Almacen and Burrito Day.”

The final fundraiser came with announcements about Make-A-Wish at selected athletic events, and donations were collected.

“SAAC members helped pass collection buckets at basketball games, but they were really helpful in getting the word out on social media that we would be raising money at different events,” Cacace said. “Each day we raised money we had a different Harding team responsible for publicizing it on social media.”

Through those efforts the SAAC met its goal of $8,000.

In fall 2017, Harding’s SAAC was granted approval to grant a wish on campus. Representatives from Make-A-Wish visited campus and informed the SAAC that it was at the top of the list waiting for a match.

In January, Make-A-Wish matched Har­ding’s SAAC with Alissa.

“We would have been happy with whoever we were matched, but it was extra special to be matched with Alissa since she is from Searcy,” Thomas said.

Assistant athletic director and SAAC advisor Brenda Seawel worked with Make-A-Wish during the next few weeks to plan the logistics of the reveal.

“Once we learned we were matched to grant a wish, everyone pitched in to put together an amazing event for Alissa and her family,” Seawel said. “The local Make-A-Wish liaisons met with our SAAC, and everyone quickly volunteered to help in various ways. There was a lot of coordination to set a date that would allow the majority of athletes, cheerleaders, band members and fans to be involved. It was a rewarding experience for everyone involved.”

On Feb. 27, Alissa found out that indeed she had won the coloring contest and so much more. She met Harding’s athletic teams, and each team presented her with a gift. After competing in a relay race with the volleyball team, Alissa found out she would receive one more gift.

In March, Natural State Treehouses began work on the treehouse and finished the project within a few weeks. Several Harding athletes visited the Carter family to see the treehouse firsthand and witness the culmination of a three-year dream.

“The Harding SAAC has made great progress in the past few years,” Seawel said. “We currently have a very good group in place, and I hope we will keep that momentum going. Because of their leadership, our community is learning more about our student athletes’ involvement in positive activities outside of their athletic endeavors. I’m proud of this group’s commitment to enhance the student athlete experience while at Harding.”

— Scott Goode, assistant director athletic director for sports information