Angels With A Dream Continues to Make Children’s Wishes Come True

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a well-known organization that grants wishes to children with critical illnesses. With branches throughout the United States, Make-A-Wish grants a wish every 34 minutes, per their official site. Angels With A Dream has contributed to those wishes through the South Dakota branch for seven years.

Roxie Johnson, production team lead at the Daktronics Sioux Falls facility, is the founder and organizer of Angels With a Dream. Justin Waddell, a production manager also at the Sioux Falls facility, is an organizer as well, and Johnson says she may not have gotten past the first year without him. The event takes place every June at Great Bear Ski Resort in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The fun-filled day includes a car show, silent auction, raffles, inflatables for kids, a live band, food, wine tasting and more.

For Johnson, this event is a special occasion, as she started it in memory of her late husband who passed away from cancer. He wanted to help make wishes come true for kids with life-threatening illnesses and that is exactly what Johnson has done. Angels With A Dream has granted 10 wishes since it began and hopes to grant two more from this year’s funds. In total, the event has raised $88,420, bringing in $14,500 this past year alone for Make-A-Wish South Dakota.

The most rewarding part of the day is getting to meet with different families and kids affected by illness and seeing how the event positively impacts their lives.

“I, and volunteers, have met some amazing kids and their families,” Johnson said. “We learn about different diseases and how it impacts their lives. We have talked about their trips and see the excitement it brings to them to be able to forget about their illness for a while and enjoy time with their families.”

A majority of the families Angels With A Dream has granted wishes to still come out and support the event every year—they even celebrated the birthday of one of the kids this year. The community recognizes the great impact this event has on peoples’ lives and have shown great support by attending, volunteering, and providing sponsorships.

Johnson used her Daktronics corporate sponsorship to help put on the event this year. She is also grateful for all the volunteer help she has received from her Daktronics co-workers. If you would like to get involved or receive more information about this impactful event, you can check out the Angels With A Dream Facebook page or email them at angelswithadream@gmail.com.

Daktronics encourages employees to get involved in their communities. The Corporate Sponsorship Program is available to employees who actively participate in community activities and fundraising awareness events. Over the past three years, we’ve contributed nearly $150,000.00 to the causes our employees care about.

This article is by Jordan Hulscher
in Employee Communications.