It takes only 1 Reddit comment and it changed the lives of about 800 foster care kids

• On AskReddit, one user’s comment has stirred overwhelming support to One Simple Wish.
• One Simple Wish is a nonprofit that collects wishes of kids in foster care across the US and posts them, giving people the chance to grant a wish.
• As of Monday, around 800 wishes were granted, more than $85,000 was donated to fund wishes, and another $25,000 was raised for future wishes!

It only took one comment on Reddit to change the lives of hundreds of foster care kids.

On the popular forum AskReddit, one user @dartdoug responded to the question, “What is something you’ve done purely out of the goodness of your heart, but have never told anyone?” and his reply not only reached about 20,000 upvotes, but moreso brought awareness to One Simple Wish and inspired thousands to do the same.

Working with over 700 social service agencies across the US, One Simple Wish is a nonprofit that aims to raise awareness about the foster care system and grants wishes to children and young people. It collects foster-care kids’ “wishes” and posts them on its website for people to grant.

The kids’ wishes are of various kinds — ranging from a simple pair of gymnastic shoes, to sporting gears, laptops, and college tuition payments.

Since that one comment from @dartdoug, One Simple Wish’s website has gotten so much attention to the point of crashing! The group even had to resort to putting up a splash page to continue accommodating the overwhelming response.

As of Monday, around 800 wishes were granted. More than $85,000 was donated to fund wishes. And another $25,000 was raised for future wishes.

If there was someone extremely astonished with this overflow, it was One Simple Wish founder Danielle Gletow, who barely used Reddit before.

Danielle started the organization about 20 years ago. Although she wasn’t connected to a foster care when she was young, she had a very disorderly childhood — which involved moving around a lot.

“When I became a foster parent with my husband Joe in 2006, it was like seeing my own childhood a bit,” she explained. “At least the same feelings, of just wanting to be a kid, wanting to be safe and loved and “normal” — wanting to do and have what my friends did.”

Danielle values kindness and wants to give kids in foster care a “real tangible, direct way to bring them so much-need love, hope and joy.”

“When we have mass media like this, more kids and young adults find out who never knew we were a resource and we need them to know we’re here,” said Danielle.

“Since the Reddit Hug, we have received so many wishes from people all over the country who never knew we existed. We need more of this.”

Source: Tank’s Good News