The Rainbow Society of Alberta (Edmonton)

Our wish granting program has been making dreams come true since 1986, and we are proud to say we were the first charity of its kind in Alberta.

Our objectives are:
 That the wish be in the best interest of the child.
 That the wish be fulfilled outside of a hospital environment whenever possible and that it includes the immediate family.
 The privacy and dignity of the child and family is, at all times, preserved and respected.
We believe a child’s wish is only limited by their imagination. With that said, we do not accept wishes that involve medical treatment, medical travel, weaponry of any kind, motorized vehicles (quads, trucks, cars, ski-doos, go-carts, etc.), home renovations or home improvements. Everything within reason is given serious consideration.
We do not receive government operational funding of any kind, nor are we a United Way agency partner.

As part of our process, children who apply and are qualified, go through an in-person interview whenever possible (some application interviews are conducted via telephone, although this is not our first choice). Each child (or parent/legal guardian if the child is young or cannot communicate for themselves) is asked to share a minimum of three wish choices with us. The interview process is also our chance to get to know the child; finding out about their favourite toys, hobbies, subjects in school, even their favourite colour. All of this information is then summarized and presented to our Board of Directors who are the governing body ultimately responsible for choosing one of the wishes for approval. Once the approved wish has been chosen, the process of making that dream come true starts. In the case of travel wishes, we include the immediate family, including all dependent children living at home. Our goal is to make the wish a once-in-a-lifetime experience that the whole family can share in.
For a child who's sick, having a wish come true can be the catalyst to help them feel better emotionally and physically, giving them increased strength and courage to cope with, or fight against, their illness and the daily challenges it brings. Look deeper than the actual wish and you'll see the true spirit of each child. A wish fills a child's heart with hope and happiness, from the adventure-seeking 6-year-old wishing to escape his wheelchair to experience a Disney ride, to the 11-year-old dreaming of an adapted bicycle to ride to school with her friends for the very first time.
We differ from other wish-granting groups in a few, but very important, ways:
• We are solely a provincial organization which means all of the funds we raise go towards granting wishes for children right here in Alberta.
• Being an Alberta-based charity works in our favour with local companies that want to contribute to the communities where their employees live and work. It works against us, however, in attracting larger national sponsors. This is where Make A Wish and The Children’s Wish Foundation (who have recently merged together) have the advantage. Because they are national, their chapters are able to draw support through larger sponsors and donors.
All of our support comes from Alberta communities.
• These national and international wish-granting organizations will only consider wishes for children who have a life-threatening illness. We are the only group to extend our mandate to include children who are battling a severe chronic illness. In fact, we receive many referrals from the other groups every year. On average, about one-half of the wishes we grant every year are for children with severe chronic illnesses with the other half being for children with life-threatening illnesses.