PBN Leaders & Achievers 2024 Awards
Mary-Kate O’Leary | A Wish Come True Inc. | Executive director
FOR NEARLY SIX YEARS, Mary-Kate O’Leary has focused her energy and talent on strengthening and expanding the work of A Wish Come True Inc., a Coventry-based nonprofit where she is the executive director. The organization’s mission is to grant wishes and provide resources to children and families affected by life-threatening illnesses. O’Leary plans to do much more in her leadership role with A Wish Come True.
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“Our biggest goal is to grant more wishes,” O’Leary said, “to expand our reach from Rhode Island to southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut. There’s so much more we can do.”
O’Leary has built a strong track record to bring A Wish Come True to the next level. When she began her tenure at A Wish Come True, the agency was in financial distress. Under her guidance, it is now financially stable with a $1.4 million budget.
She began by establishing a clear identity for the organization. With more than 9,000 nonprofits in Rhode Island, she helped develop a unique brand identity for A Wish Come True.
From there, she established a board of directors with connections to the community to increase support.
“As a businesswoman, I was excited about the opportunity to make change, to turn things around,” O’Leary said. “We had to define what distinguishes us from so many other wonderful organizations, then begin the outreach to increase community response.”
O’Leary knew that it was important for A Wish Come True to do more than grant wishes for children. Entire families, including parents and siblings, needed support while coping with the life-threatening illnesses that these children faced.
Making her mark on the organization, O’Leary instituted a Hardship Fund to help families with expenses such as transportation, medical appointments and hospital visits. The organization now offers an online support group and hosts special events for the community.
A gala on Sept. 28 will promote awareness of its work and raise funds to grant more wishes and support even more families.
“Families often fall through the cracks. They struggle financially and emotionally and we want to be there to provide them with assistance,” O’Leary said.
