Visitors would place their wishes along the wall to have them granted by The Wishwall Foundation charity.
For those who’ve grown up wishing upon a star for their hopes and dreams, soon they’ll get the chance to wish upon something a little closer to home.
Local youth group Girl Talk Marlton is partnering with the The Wishwall Foundation to set up a mural wall within the Evesham Library where locals can post their wishes with the hopes of having them granted.
Those who follow news out of Philadelphia may recall hearing about the first U.S. Wishwall installation within the historic Ninth Street Italian Market slightly more than a year ago during the visit of Pope Francis.
Around that time, the Wishwall Foundation constructed a freestanding wall where visitors could post their wishes. Wishes ranged from world goals of ending war to more personal wishes looking for help to a specific problem.
The Wishwall Foundation, created by Italian author and fashion icon turned activist Simonetta Lein, then scoured the wishes for any the foundation may have been able to grant.
Perhaps the most well-known wish the foundation granted was that from the family of a woman who was killed in 2014 by an unknown hit-and-run driver. The Wishwall Foundation worked with the city of Philadelphia and sponsors to put a billboard offering a reward for information about the incident, which later resulted in an arrest.
Now, a similar Wishwall is coming to Marlton in part thanks to Girl Talk Marlton, the local chapter of the national peer-mentoring program for middle- and high school-aged girls.
“The girls have gotten so excited, and they’re asking people for their wishes already and it’s so positive,” said Girl Talk Marlton founder and adult leader Mary Beth Iannarella. “I love to see that. It’s just positive and brings hope and it’s good stuff.”
Iannarella said she learned about the Wishwall Foundation as many others did — by seeing its work in Philadelphia reported in the media — and she later contacted the foundation about possibly bringing a wall to Marlton.
Similar to the wall in Philadelphia, the Marlton wall will allow locals to post their own wishes, and then the Wishwall Foundation will hopefully be able to make some dreams come true.
However, Iannarella said Girl Talk Marlton and the foundation are limited by funding, so she’s spreading news of the wall along with ways potential supporters can donate to the project.
“We want to grant as many wishes as we can, and while we’re limited to what the foundation can do, hopefully we can make at least one person happy. If that can happen, it’ll all be worth it,” Iannarella said.
Supporters of the wall can make a direct monetary donation, and sponsorship levels are available for those who wish to make a larger donation, including some opportunities for organizations to have their logo permanently placed on the wall itself.
For those residents or organizations looking to donate or sponsor the wall, email [email protected].
All donations are tax deductible, and checks can be made out to The Wishwall Foundation and mailed to 45 Lakeside Drive, Marlton, 08053.
Iannarella said the wall will also serve another purpose, as it will be dedicated to Marlton native and nationally-known singer Christina Grimmie, who lost her life in June as a result of gunshot wounds inflicted in an attack following a concert Florida.
“I wanted to bring something positive to the town. I wanted to get rid of that sadness that I felt that day,” Iannarella said.
Although she doesn’t have an exact date set yet for the unveiling of Marlton’s Wishwall, Iannarella and her Girl Talk members are telling supporters to lookout for a date sometime in December.
