LUBBOCK, Texas — Littlefield High School students spent the school year raising money to grant a child’s wish.
In fact, they raised more than $9,000 to make Elliott Mallory’s dream come true.
Before school let out for summer, students turned the gym into an island oasis to surprise Mallory with the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii.
At 8-days-old, Mallory had his first major open heart surgery and he’s been waiting a few years to get the news about his trip.
“We found out two weeks before the reveal who our child was,” said Claudia Martinez, student council president. “We just branched off a few ideas that they give us. We just brainstormed and that’s how the gym came to life. We got stuff done.”
Students came up with dinosaur games for Elliott to play before the big reveal.
Mallory said he had a special reason for why Hawaii was the place he wanted to go.
“Because it reminded me of the wild, and what it would look like if we were in the time of the dinosaurs,” Mallory said.
If you want to learn anything about dinosaurs Elliott is the expert.
“Yes, Elliott loves dinosaurs. He’ll read anything he can find about dinosaurs. He’ll tell anyone who will listen,” said Melanie Mallory, Elliott’s mom. “He’ll even spot a T-Rex that’s drawn incorrectly, knows scientific names, he’s a wealth of knowledge about dinosaurs.”
Texas Tech brought Elliott and his family to West Texas. His parents said the party from the students at Littlefield High School really touched them.
“It was amazing, I’m not from West Texas, but Texas Tech brought us here,” said Melanie Mallory, Elliott’s mom. “We went back to Houston to have Elliott. A year later, we couldn’t wait to get back to West Texas. Because West Texas is family. Seeing that love and kindness and support is overwhelming fact that that’s directed at my family is incredible.”
If you’d like to get involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation just give them a call at 806-785-9474.
Wish Wednesday is sponsored by Michael Postar’s Affordable Storage. https://affordablestoragelubbock.com/community/
