Brecksville nonprofit ‘Wow’s’ northeast Ohio children and families

by Emily Canning-Dean

Thanks to Brecksville-based Workshop of Wishes, roughly 600 families across northeast Ohio receive much needed support during some of the most trying days of their lives.

The nonprofit organization, located at 23 Public Square, is dedicated to granting the wishes of children between birth and 20 years who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.

“Workshop of Wishes was founded [in October 2025] but we used to be A Special Wish Foundation of Northeast Ohio, which is part of a larger national organization,” said Eileen Lane Beudert, founder and executive director of WOW.

Beudert said her team decided to branch off on its own last year after A Special Wish Foundation made the decision to take a percentage of the proceeds raised by the organization.

“Being a small, local chapter, we wanted to be able to tell our donors that every dollar goes to helping the families we serve,” she said. “We transferred all 600 of our families to our local organization. Our volunteers were doing all the work ourselves anyway, but we were just using the name of the national organization so this move made sense.”

Beudert said WOW offers a multitude of services to qualifying northeast Ohio children and their families. The Wish program provides once in a lifetime experiences for children such as funding dream vacations or setting up meet and greets with children’s heroes.

Under the Sprinkles of Joy program, WOW arranges fun, immune-friendly experiences which allow the entire family to create positive lifelong memories.

“We work with a bunch of local businesses that are kid-friendly,” Beudert said. “For example, Chuck E. Cheese is a place where a lot of our kids would love to go, but because it can often be crowded, it’s not always a good place for a kid who is immune-compromised. But we can arrange for an event where the family can come in an hour earlier and maybe even bring a friend so they can enjoy all the fun, but parents don’t have to worry about their child being exposed to germs.”

Through the program, WOW also arranges safe outings to other venues such as Build-A-Bear, the Greater Cleveland Aquarium and the Children’s Museums in Cleveland and Akron.

Through the food drop program WOW provides food to families during inpatient treatments at more than 20 different hospitals.

Under the When I Grow Up program, WOW facilitates outings where children can enjoy the experience of living out their dream job for a day.

The Holiday Sponsor program allows families to sign their child up to be sponsored for the holiday season.

“Also, recently we have been able to add the birthday program where we turned our office into a little toy shop,” Beudert said. “Parents can sign up and shop for birthdays or to celebrate a child who finishes chemo or even get presents for a sibling.”

Beudert said she is grateful for all of WOW’s community partners and donors as well as the nearly 150 volunteers who make the organization’s mission a reality.

“We can always use more volunteers,” she said. “We especially need food drop volunteers who can help deliver meals. We deliver those four or five days a week at around 5 p.m. It is such an important program because it helps to alleviate stress and financial pressure for our families.”

Beudert said monetary donations are also greatly appreciated as are donations of new or gently used pieces of luggage.

“For our families going to Disney World or another vacation through our program, it’s likely many of them haven’t traveled in a long time and these donations of luggage are very helpful,” she said.

Beudert said WOW’s website, workshopofwishes.org, also includes an Amazon wish list as well as information on how community members can donate and volunteer.

Photo caption: Workshop of Wishes grants wishes to local children affected by life-threatening illnesses. Photo submitted.