April 9th, 2010

Reports the New York Times:

Chokyi Kalzang, 67, wanted to go back to school.

Ms. Kalzang had an acceptance letter in hand, a grant to pay for her tuition and all the motivation in the world to complete her credits. But she was missing one thing necessary for a modern college education: a computer.

One day, at her local senior center in Boulder, Colo., Ms. Kalzang saw a flier asking older people for essays about their one greatest wish. Figuring she had nothing to lose, Ms. Kalzang wrote about her dream of finishing the college degree she began 50 years ago and about how something as simple as a computer and printer stood in the way of her goal.

That essay went to Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime, a charity named for Mr. Bloom, an Olympic skier and former professional football player, that grants wishes to low-income older people. The organization used donations totaling $1,000 to provide Ms. Kalzang with a new laptop and printer. After some computer lessons from her grandson, Ms. Kalzang enrolled at Metropolitan State College last fall.

While there are large organizations that grant wishes to chronically ill children and to the poor, Wish of a Lifetime is among just a handful of small charities that focus on underprivileged older people. Their wishes range from the fanciful (a trip skydiving, for instance) to the basic (a visit with a new granddaughter in another state) to the essential (the installation of an accessible shower).

Simply put, these organizations tell older people that it’s O.K. to keep dreaming and working toward larger goals.

Read more.