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Our Story

Our impact as of 2024

  • Care Home Support- We have fulfilled over 100,000 wishes since 2019 and we have provided assistance to 100s of care homes across America. 
  • Educational Programs- We work with schools across America connect the generations. The "Three Wishes Project" has been incorporated into many classroom curriculums and service initiatives.  We have launched national, state and local educational programs that have brought countless students inside the nursing homes to serve AND learn. The number of students impacted by our educational programs increases every year. 
  • Volunteer Engagement- We have mobilized volunteers locally and across the country. We offer Three Wishes Pop-Up clubs as a short-term option to be us for a few weeks. 
  • Fundraising Success- We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2018 and this has enabled us to expand our services and programs to reach more seniors than ever and educate youth along the way. 
  • Awareness Campaigns- We have launched numerous awareness campaigns on social media. We want the world to understand the plight of care home seniors and our numbers show that we are doing that. We reached over 1 million people last year through our socials and awareness campaigns. 
  • Local engagement- We built a one-of-a-kind 5000 square-foot community center to provide a space to connect the generations. We teach vintage skills and staff our center with senior citizen volunteers. Stop in and you might just find one of our seniors helping a classroom of children make crafts! It's a magical sight.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Story

We're in the business of granting wishes. 

HOW IT BEGAN 

A message from our founder, Ruby Kate 

Here’s my story.

I’m not your average 15-year-old. Candy is my favorite food and nursing home seniors are my favorite people. I feel like I grew up in nursing homes. It’s what my mom does and I was with her a lot. I liked it and I liked them. I liked their hugs and I especially liked the way they made me feel. It was like they gave out “inside happiness”. This all started when I decided to help one nursing home senior when I was 10. Her name was Pearl and she had to give up her dog. I learned that most nursing home seniors in America receive a very low “personal spending allowance” (PSA) each month that must cover everything from haircuts and clothes to pet food. How much is the PSA? It’s $30 in NC and $40 in Arkansas. It varies from state to state but the one thing all states have in common is that it’s low. They can’t even afford Pepsi. Something as simple as a haircut is 25% of their monthly allowance. My friends in the nursing home were going without. I asked them,  “what are your 3 wishes?” and all they wanted were simple things like fresh strawberries, pants that fit and real cheese! If you asked kids my age that question you would get “a million $, air pods or a PlayStation”.  These seniors just wanted what most of us have.

Fast forward to 2023 and I’ve founded a youth-led nonprofit that fulfills these small wishes for nursing home seniors across America.  Our nonprofit has fulfilled over 40,000 wishes. I’ve received the highest honors a youth can receive for my humanitarian work. My favorite thing is that I’ve taught kids, classrooms and adults from all over the country how to help nursing home seniors in their own communities. 

We are changing their world. It’s a movement.

In a world where YOU can choose any charity, I hope you’ll choose mine.  

Three Wishes for Ruby’s Residents.

 

Ruby’s Pledge for Three Wishes Volunteers

I will do my best to be:
Blind to everything but my small role in the facility,
Kind and Respectful to all that I encounter,
Responsible for my actions and words,
Aware of the tender feelings of others,
An inspiration to others through my actions today,
Leave the nursing home with more joy than I found it.

© 2025 Three Wishes For Ruby’s Residents

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