LEWISTON – Kristy and Misty Coleman arrived home this Saturday seeing double. Normally, this wouldn’t be too strange. Being twins, these 4-year-olds are used to seeing everything in pairs. But nothing could prepare them for the room full of identical toys that awaited.
The twins knew it was a special day early on, when a stretch limousine arrived at their Blake Street apartment and whisked their family and them off for ice cream in Brunswick.
While they were gone, a group of volunteers gathered in their living room and got to work unpacking the mountain of toys provided by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The girls suffer from HDR syndrome, a condition that affects their kidneys and hearing and requires constant attention and medication. They had met with a representative from the Make-A-Wish Foundation just a few weeks before a Feb. 20 fire that destroyed the twins’ former residence on Blake Street, leaving them without a home and without much hope.
It was then that their mother, Martha Coleman, decided what she wanted for her girls: “a living room full of toys, a set for each of them,” a wish that would only become more meaningful as the family was forced to find a new residence.
It was Teletubbies and Elmo as far as the eye could see, as the volunteers tore into cardboard packaging and wrestled with plastic ties. Make-A-Wish Foundation wish-granter Linda Jackson-Phillips watched over the scene.
“What better job can you do than make a child happy?” she said.
This was the second wish Jackson-Phillips, a volunteer, has organized this year. She doesn’t hesitate to call her work with the foundation “the most incredible thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Some members of the Lewiston Fire Department, which responded to the Blake Street fire in February, were on hand, cooking up a few of the twins’ favorites.
The firefighters got involved as soon as they heard about the girls’ wish. “We are just doing it for the kids,” said one.
It was with wide eyes that the girls and their family entered the apartment. Dozens of toys, two by two, lined the room. Between the play kitchen set and Disney DVD player, it was hard to find a shade of pink not represented.
Kristy and Misty seemed unable to decided what toy warranted their attention.
“They don’t know what to do first!” said Coleman, watching of the girls. “I didn’t expect anything like this; it’s unbelievable.”
The twins also received a full selection of learning toys, including books and electronic learning equipment. “I wanted to make sure they got educational toys,” their mother said. The pair starts school at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston next fall.
The twins’ family stood in quiet gratitude while the girls chatted with some Sesame Street favorites on their new Elmo cell phones and pushed their toy vacuums around the living room.
Their grandmother looked on the scene in disbelief. “It’s amazing what (Make-a-Wish) can do,” she said.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine grants, on average, one wish every five days. Through more than 500 volunteers, the foundation fulfills the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses and provides them and their families with a worry-free experience of a lifetime.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation can be contacted online at www.mainewish.org
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