Make-A-Wish, and NAIT Students Will Grant It

By Melinda Paplawski

Last year the Make-A-Wish foundation’s Edmonton office decided it had a problem, it needed a new lobby. Their current lobby was plain with a few pictures, and they wanted to better reflect the attitude and work that the charity does. They still had one big problem though, being a charity, they didn’t have the money to hire a designer, or to complete the redesign. So they approached NAIT Interior Design instructors to ask for their help. The “Design Dilemma” was built into the curriculum for this year of the course, and yesterday the designs were unveiled and the winner was chosen from 12 submissions by students of the course.

“We were ecstatic, thrilled, we only wish that we had enough lobbies to do all of the designs. They all had wonderful ideas that we could pull from, and it was a very difficult decision to choose one winner,” says Cathy Gabucci, executive director of the Northern Alberta Make-A-Wish foundation.

That does still leave the other half of the “Design Dilemma” though, getting the job done. “We had given the students a budget of $5000, and we’re confident that the design that they created should come in within that budget.” The charity still needs to find someone to do the work, and a way of getting the money, before the students “dream lobby” can become a reality. “As soon as we go out there and pitch our idea to a sponsor hopefully we’ll be able to find somebody who will come forward and take the project on.”

As far as working with the instructors and student designers Gabucci says it was a pleasure, and that she would recommend it to other charitable organizations in the city. “It fit a need for both of us, we got the design that we needed, and they were able to contribute to a charity and learn from a real life scenario.”

Make-A-Wish is hoping to get the new lobby completed as soon as possible.

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